Ramunas Navardauskas proved again that fortune favours the brave.
The Lithuanian attacked from a breakaway group of about 20 riders with Daniel Oss (BMC Racing), caught and passed lone leader Patrick Gretsch (Argos-Shimano) and then rode Oss from his wheel to win alone. Impressive.
Still more so, is that the Lithuanian’s previous WorldTour victory, one achieved less than a month ago at the Tour de Romandie, was taken in a sprint. Did someone say “versatile”?
The breakaway action was the focal point of today’s stage on a tough, rather than crippling 182km parcours from Tarvisio to Varjont that saw the GC contenders pause for breath, perhaps for the first time.
Bradley Wiggins (Team Sky) will have welcomed the respite, but for defending champion, Ryder Hesjedal (Garmin-Sharp) it came too late.
The Canadian appeared to draw solace from news of his team-mate’s triumph, even though it was imparted to him from the team car, while he was still far from the finish.
Here’s another full screen gallery of all the action from official UCI WorldTour photographer, Stefano Sirotti.
