With 17 kilometers to go the tension in the peloton breaks.
All the teams are removed, this does not seem like the fourth stage of the Giro but rather a spring classic, a one-day classic, perhaps a Milan-San Remo.
Geographically, cyclists are not that far away either.
As on the day before, Merlier, winner on Monday, also Milan, Groves and Kooij (not Girmay, who crashed mid-stage and leaves the Giro), are sharpening as the advantage of the two escapees, Fran Muñoz and Stefan de Brod, who escaped at kilometer 0 (of 190 km) and had four minutes of margin, but this is running out.
They are hunted five kilometers from the end, at the foot of the dizzying climb to Andora, in Italian Liguria, and before the leg-breaking adventure the giant Filippo Ganna launches himself.
He puts almost 700 watts of power on his bike, and from behind they come out at random, first Trentin, then the rest.
(This time, Pogacar is contained, now he is taking a day off).
Ganna has opened a margin of ten seconds, he ascends in time trial mode, but the people behind are not going to let him do it either. The sprinters want their day, the peloton is cannibalized and the Italian is absorbed at five hundred meters.
The outcome is the usual chaos of mass sprints. Squires who persist, squeeze every last pedal stroke and finally open up. Bicycle dancing, heads shaking, teeth gnashing, Milan (Lidl) appears and shoots first, and Groves accosts him but is late.
In general, nothing changes.
Pogacar (UAE) maintains his 46-second margin over the British Geraint Thomas, and one more over the Colombian Daniel Martínez.
More stages for sprinters are venturing, both on Wednesday and Thursday, waiting for the 40-kilometer time trial on Friday and the highlight on Saturday, the high mountains between Spoleto and Prati di Tivo.
