Daily Times

BRINDISI: Arnaud Demare took his third stage win of the Giro d’Italia with relative ease as he beat Peter Sagan in a scrappy sprint in Brindisi on Friday. Australian Michael Matthews edged out British champion Ben Swift for third place at the end of stage seven from Matera but none of them could match Demare, who raised him arms in celebration for a second day running. The relatively flat 143km stage looked like it might offer respite on paper, but in reality crosswinds made for a day of tension and drama, reflected in an average speed of 51.6kmh as the pressure was on all day. Ultimately there was no change in the general classification, with Deceuninck-QuickStep’s Joao Almeida retaining his 48-second lead over Pello Bilbao of Bahrain-McLaren in the battle for pink while Vincenzo Nibali, Steven Kruijswijk and Jakob Fuglsang remained within 90 seconds. Others –––- including Britain’s Simon Yates –––- were grateful to avoid losses after being caught on the wrong side of splits earlier in the day. In the final 20km to set up the bunch sprint to the finish with no one was able to challenge Demare.