Alberto Bettiol times his move to perfection for first win in two years at the Giro d'Italia

Alberto Bettiol has won stage thirteen of the Giro d'Italia. The Italian from XDS Astana got the better of a large breakaway group in a tricky finale. On the final climb he timed his acceleration to perfection, and his rivals never saw him again. Andreas Leknessund (Uno-X) finished second, with Jasper Stuyven (Soudal Quick-Step) in third.

The riders rolled out of Alessandria on Friday, with the opening hours largely flat. Once the final section arrived, it would come down to who handled the sting in the tail best: first the Bieno climb (2.4 kilometres at 5.7 per cent), then the ascent to Ungiasca (4.7 kilometres at 7 per cent, with two very steep final kilometres).

Where many had predicted a fierce battle to get into the breakaway, that is broadly what transpired — though a group of seven did ride clear relatively quickly. Behind them, several teams were unhappy with the situation and the peloton remained unsettled for some time.

Pink jersey wearer Afonso Eulálio had a moment of stress in those early kilometres when the Portuguese rider punctured. His team Bahrain Victorious brought him back fairly quickly, after which calm was restored. Meanwhile, with a second group of five also up the road, there was still plenty of movement in the peloton.

Of the original seven leaders, Vicentje Rojas (Bardiani) was dropped and the Chilean was unable to rejoin when the chase group came through either. After the two groups merged there were therefore not twelve but eleven riders at the front — and that was not the final picture either, with a group of four still on its way up. The peloton was happy to let things play out.

The names in the lead group — notably without Filippo Ganna (INEOS) — were: Francesco Busatto (Alpecin), Michael Valgren (EF), Johan Jacobs (Groupama), Mark Donovan (Pinarello-Q36.5), Jasper Stuyven (Soudal), Mirco Maestri and Diego Sevilla (both Polti), Larry Warbasse (Tudor), Mikkel Bjerg (UAE), Andreas Leknessund (Uno-X) and Alberto Bettiol (Astana).

The group of four who then bridged across consisted of Axel Huens, Josh Kench (both Groupama), Toon Aerts (Lotto) and Markus Hoelgaard (Uno-X). That gave a front group of fifteen in total, with Groupama-FDJ United the best-represented team — three riders in the move with Jacobs, Huens and Kench.

The peloton was content. Bahrain Victorious and Visma | Lease a Bike kept things in check but made no real effort to close the gap. The breakaway gained more and more time. With sixty kilometres to go, the gap stood at ten minutes — enough to know with certainty that the stage winner would come from the front group.

The race ticked along steadily from there. In the final forty kilometres there was an intermediate sprint, where Sevilla picked up a few points for that classification. But everyone was waiting for the climbs in the finale, and the first would arrive soon enough: the Bieno ascent. That proved too gentle to cause a real split, and the full breakaway group reached the foot of the final climb intact.

The Ungiasca climb was considerably harder and longer — 4.7 kilometres at 7.1 per cent. Before it even began, Jacobs stepped off the gas: he had ridden himself empty in service of co-leader Kench. The next domestique, Huens, maintained a high tempo on the lower slopes, and that put a number of riders into difficulty — among them Warbasse, Bjerg and Aerts.

Kench's acceleration was expected, but it was fierce. Only three riders could follow: Leknessund, Valgren and Bettiol. The faster riders, including Stuyven and Aerts, were left a small gap behind. When things eased momentarily at the front, it was Leknessund who kicked. The Norwegian champion opened up a small gap. Bettiol did his best to respond — but could he close it?

Valgren and Kench were already conceding more ground, but the Italian was tenacious. Bit by bit he clawed his way back, and with a hundred metres to the summit he accelerated impressively. He crested the climb with a healthy lead and headed into the descent. That descent was tricky enough, with plenty of demanding corners — it became a race within a race between the two of them.

Bettiol is hard to crack, but so is Leknessund. The gap hovered around twenty seconds. In the closing kilometres it was clear the Italian was only pulling further away. He took his first win in two years — and his first for XDS Astana. Leknessund, already a runner-up earlier in this Giro behind Jhonatan Narváez, had to settle for second place again. The returning Stuyven came through smartly for third.