After only one day in Switzerland, the riders returned to Italy today for the 14th stage, but first they had to contend with the Simplon Pass. The rest of the stage was on flat terrain. The expected hard fight for the breakaway lasted almost until the foot of the Simplon Pass, only shortly before 29 men broke away from the peloton, with Nico Denz again in the group at the front for BORA - hansgrohe. The peloton quickly ceased to play a role in the day's victory, as the group's lead grew to over 15 minutes. The front group split and then broke into other small groups, with Nico in the first chasing group. At the 1000 metre mark there were still three riders at the front and Nico in the group behind, but with an energetic performance he was able to close the gap and win the sprint yet again, to take his second stage win in this Giro. The new overall leader is B. Armirail, who was also in the large leading group, with Lennard Kämna slipping back one place in the general classification as a result, and is now in seventh place.
Result
01 N. Denz 4:37:30
02 D. Gee +0:00
03 A. Bettiol +0:00
From the Finish Line
"I really wanted to race for the win today. When you already have a victory in the bag, you don't want to finish fourth. That's why I took the risk and closed the gap. I saw that the others were looking at each other a bit and then I went straight to Bettiol's rear wheel and gave everything I had left in the tank. I managed to win and I don't fully understand yet what just happened. But it can go on like this for another week… all good things come in threes!" - Nico Denz
"It's really special when a helper wins two stages at the Giro and can celebrate his biggest successes in his career here with us. We knew that the break had a good chance of getting through. But for us it is of course very important that we also support Lenni well here and that's why Nico was the only one we chose to let go into the break today. We knew it would be very difficult, but he's just in the form of his life. Today was the 13th win for BORA - hansgrohe in seven years at the Giro that I could be there to celebrate, and I'm personally also very proud of that." - Jens Zemke, Sports Director