NOVA GORICA, Slovenia (AP) — Overall leader Isaac Del Toro gained big chunks of time on many of his biggest rivals who were slowed by a crash in the wet and slippery 14th stage of the Giro d’Italia on Saturday.
Kasper Asgreen of Denmark, who got into an early breakaway, won the mostly flat stage all on his own.
Del Toro, the first Mexican rider to wear the pink jersey, finished in the second group 16 seconds behind.
But Del Toro’s UAE Team Emirates teammate Juan Ayuso, 2023 champion Primoz Roglic and top-placed Italian Antonio Tiberi all finished further behind.
Del Toro, who entered the stage with a 38-second lead over Ayuso, now leads Simon Yates by 1 minute, 20 seconds. Ayuso dropped to third, 1:26 behind; 2019 champion Richard Carapaz is fourth, 2:07 behind; and Roglic now trails by 2:23 in fifth.
Tiberi, who also hit the road, dropped from third to eighth, 3:02 behind.
Giulio Ciccone, who was seventh, appeared injured in the crash but got back on his bike and finished the stage several minutes behind the leaders.
The crash, which occurred about 22 kilometers (less than 15 miles) from the finish, occurred on a section of cobblestones where the road was narrowed by a raised sidewalk coming around a curve.
The 195-kilometer (121-mile) leg started in Treviso and finished over the border in Slovenia.
For Stage 15 on Sunday, there’s a big climb up Monte Grappa at the midpoint of the 219-kilometer (136-mile) route from Fiume Veneto to Asiago.
Monday is the race’s third and final rest day.
The Giro ends in Rome next weekend.
