Greig Leach

The sprint into Genova was not quite as straight forward as it appeared to be on the race handbook. The profile showed what appeared to be a flat finish, but instead the final 600 meters was a bit of a drag up to the line. Andre Greipel (Lotto Soudal) was the first to launch his sprint, but the rise in the road proved to be too much for the legs of the German National Champion. The finale was taken by the Italian, Elia Viviani (Team Sky) who popped out from the wheel of the fast man from LottoNL Jumbo, Moreno Hofland. Tucked in behind the top finishers on the stage was the White Jersey (best placed under 24 rider in the race) of Michael Matthews (Orica-GreenEdge). His seventh place finished was good enough for the Aussie to exchange his White Jersey for the Pink Jersey of the Overall Leader of the 98th Giro d'Italia. Salute!