The 32-year-old Matthews was one of the main contenders for victory due to the undulating end of the stage between the cities of Vasto and Melfi, and he fulfilled his role. After a relatively early start, the Jayco-AlUla team member held off Dane Mads Pedersen and followed up his 2014 and 2015 Giro triumphs. At the same time, the Canberra native claimed his tenth Grand Prix stage success after four wins at the Tour de France and three at the Vuelta Tour.
The winner of Saturday’s time trial, Evenepoel, is now 32 seconds ahead of Portugal’s Joao Almeida. The biggest challenger Primož Roglič from Slovenia moved into third place, whose loss to the young Belgian slightly increased by one second to 44 seconds after the defeat in the bonus sprint.
On Tuesday, the toughest stage of the 106th edition of the Giro awaits the cyclists. On the 175 km between Venosa and Lake Laceno, there are two long climbs and at the end one sharp climb of the second category.