Stage 18
Greipel, finally
- Thursday 27 May 2010
- 140 km
- 1,863 m climbed
- Won by André Greipel
The road
At the start
The sprinters' last chance
Arroyo still leads, Basso is at 2:27 and Evans at 3:09, and nothing moved on the road to Peio Terme. Today is the flattest day left, 153 kilometres from Levico Terme down past Lake Garda to Brescia, and after it come the Mortirolo and the Gavia. Andre Greipel arrived at this Giro expecting to win the points jersey and has won nothing at all; this is the last road he will get.
How it was won
- 10 km to go
Fifty seconds at the ten-kilometre banner
HTC-Columbia have kept Kaisen and Marangoni on a short leash all the way round Lake Garda: 2:05 at thirty-eight kilometres, 1:25 at twenty, fifty seconds now. For once in this Giro the chase is timed exactly right.
- At the line
Greipel, finally
In Brescia Andre Greipel comes over the top of Henderson and leaves Dean behind him, and a race he has called a disaster gives him one day of it. Eighteen stages, and the sprinter everyone expected to dominate has one.
The result
| Rank | Rider | Team | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | André Greipel | Team HTC - Columbia | 3:14:59 |
| 2 | Julian Dean | Team Garmin - Transitions | +0:00 |
| 3 | Tiziano Dall'Antonia | Liquigas - Doimo | +0:00 |
The route on real terrain, every moment pinned to the kilometre it happened on — and the GPX to ride it yourself.