Summary Max Schachmann of Germany won the 18th stage of the Giro d'Italia on Thursday.
PRATO NEVOSO (AFP) - Giro d Italia leader Simon Yates buckled then rallied as his rivals took turns to attack him on the final steep climb to a summit finish on stage 18, which was won by Germany s Max Schachmann after a long breakaway.
As the main contenders came up the final 18km climb, long after the 24-year-old Schachmann had finished, defending champion Tom Dumoulin made the first bid to drop Yates, who initially stuck to his wheel with about 1.5km to go.
Then, on a gravelly surface devoid of tarmac, pre-race favourite Chris Froome launched a spectacular assault and was followed by Dumoulin and third placed Domenico Pozzovivo while Yates was unable to answer.
Dumoulin said after the race he s been determined to test the English leader.
"He stayed with my first attack, then Froome attacked and I tried to follow Pozzovivo and Froome and Yates got dropped. Of course it s a good day but the coming two days are going to be different and much harder than today," the Sunweb leader said.
A haggard looking Yates had to dig deep to limit the damage, crossing the finish line 28 seconds adrift of Dumoulin and Froome thereby maintaining half his advantage.
"I m still ahead, much better to be ahead than behind and I like the look of the next couple of stages," Yates said after the race.
"I lost a bit of time but it s not so bad."
Yates still holds a 28-second lead over the Dutchman in the overall standings with two brutal mountain stages still to contest.
Pozzovivo is third at 2min 43sec and Froome remains fourth at 3 min 22 sec.
"There are two very hard stages ahead of us," Froome told press after the race. "And for the first time I saw that Simon Yates was not at 100 per cent."
Schachmann had been part of a ten rider escape group that opened a lead of over 14 minutes on the main contenders at the start of the final climb.
The Quick Step man won easily in the end, a fifth stage on this Giro for the Belgian team, as he outsprinted Spain s Ruben Plaza.
Friday s stage is supposedly better suited to Yates, but the margin is so close a tense day of riding is on the cards.
