Giro d’Italia 2018: Simon Yates extends overall lead as Esteban Chaves struggles and Matej Mohoric wins stage 10

Chaves began Tuesday’s stage 10 with a 32-second gap to Yates wearing the Maglia Rosa, but struggled from the start and never recovered

Matej Mohoric, right, beats Nico Denz to win stage 10 (AFP/Getty Images)

Team Mitchelton-Scott are set to go all in behind their British rider and the current Giro d’Italia leader Simon Yates in his quest to win a first Grand Tour after his team-mate and closest rival, Esteban Chaves, endured a terrible day in the east of Italy.

Chaves began Tuesday’s stage 10 with a 32-second gap to Yates wearing the Maglia Rosa, but struggled from the start and never recovered, losing several costly minutes which effectively ended his challenge with 10 race days still to go.

The rest of the overall contenders finished in the main pack, including Tom Dumoulin and Thibaut Pinot, as Bahrain-Merida’s 23-year-old Matej Mohoric clinched the stage win in Gualdo Tadino, Umbria.

“Chaves just had a bad moment on the first climb of the day,” Yates said afterwards. “Straight after the rest day, you don’t know how the body responds. I’m very disappointed for him because he’s worked hard for this Giro.”

Following the second of three rest days in this year’s tour, most of the peloton returned on Tuesday morning determined to break Mitchelton-Scott’s hold on the race, with both Yates and Chaves at the top of the standings.

Yates had a strong day, claiming three bonus seconds at the intermediate sprint point. But Chaves quickly slipped away around the first category two climb heading north from Penne, and despite the efforts of several team-mates to help haul him back into contention, the Colombian slipped away and eventually rolled in around 15 minutes behind his rivals.

“I was going to go for the bonus sprint because I need to gain time on Dumoulin,” he said. ”But, when I saw Pinot getting a lead out, I went past him. I need as many seconds as I can get so maybe I need to go for more bonus seconds.”

Simon Yates rides in the pack behind Team Sky's Chris Froome (AFP/Getty Images)

The Italian rider Marco Frapporti made an ambitious solo break but was eventually reeled in as Ag2R’s Nico Denz, Astana’s Davide Villella and Mohoric took over at the front in the final 15km. After shedding Vellella, Mohiric led Denz under the flamme rouge and held on to clinch the second Grand Tour stage of his career.

The reigning champion Dumoulin and talented French rider Pinot remain in contention and appear to be Yates’s most dangerous rivals. Dumoulin suffered a mechanical failure having run wide on a bend with 20km remaining, but with the help of his Sunweb team-mates managed to close the gap and will begin stage 11 second overall, 42 seconds behind Yates.

Stage 11 will be another hilly route as the peloton travels from Assisi to Osimo which finishes with a short sharp climb.