Portugal Colonial - Pedersen wins Giro stage 13 as Del Toro extends lead

Lidl-Trek rider Pedersen burst to victory in the final few hundred metres, holding off Wout van Aert in a thrilling end to a punchy 180 kilometres of riding from Rovigo to Vicenza.

"I went a bit earlier than I really wanted to but on such a hard uphill final like this sometimes it's okay to go early because everyone has burning legs the last 100 meters," said Pedersen.

Pedersen claimed his fourth stage of this year's Giro while wearing the sprint jersey, closing in on the six wins Tadej Pogacar racked up on his way to triumph at last year's edition of the Italian Grand Tour.

"I'm just happy with this one and adding another 50 points to the 'ciclomino' (sprint) jersey so let's see how it goes," added Pederson.

"It's still far to Rome but now I'm just overwhelmed about winning again."

Del Toro came in third and leads his UAE teammate Juan Ayuso by 38 seconds in the general classification, extending the gap over his title rivals.

Christian Scaroni was the last of the breakaway riders to be eventually caught with 10km left, on the second of two laps to Vicenza, setting up an engaging finale with a tough climb at the finish.

Romain Bardet made a bold attack with 9km to go, pulling fifteen seconds away alongside Pedersen's teammate Mathias Vacek.

Both were caught in the final kilometre by the peloton, and Pedersen rocketed away from the pack on a tough final climb to the line.

Saturday's 14th stage is another largely flat run from nearby Treviso, 195km to Nova Gorica across Italy's border with Slovenia.

C.Cassis--PC