ROME: Team Bahrain McLaren’s Pello Bilbao finished strongly in the Giro d’Italia stage 18 yesterday taking third place moving into fourth position overall.
There was good news from La Vuelta a Espana too, where Wout Poels was fourth on the mountaintop finish of stage 3.
After the big selection was made in the epic Stelvio climb – Cima Coppi of this year’s edition – Pello Bilbao found his tempo and tried to make the best of the day. Trying to gain as much advantage as possible, he attacked on the way to Laghi di Cancano with great determination.
Dutchman Wilco Kelderman took over as Giro leader as the fearsome Stelvio climb blew the race apart during a brutal and mesmerizing battle.
Kelderman (Sunweb) began the day 17 seconds behind long-time race leader Joao Almeida (Deceuninck–Quick-Step) whose hopes of wearing the maglia rosa all the way to Milan were shattered.
In Spain, Bahrain McLaren started stage 3 La Vuelta without Matej Mohorič, forced to abandon after Wednesday’s crash. However, the team managed to be competitive on the challenging course, featuring the first uphill finish of this edition, with Wout Poels taking a good fourth place, just four seconds behind his rivals Martin, Roglic and Carapaz, who accelerated inside the last 200m.