Dramatic win for Asgreen as crash affects GC battle

Kasper Asgreen held on for a remarkable breakaway win on stage 14 of the Giro d'Italia as a crash late in the day had a major impact on the general classification battle.

A bunch sprint was expected in Nova Gorica/Gorizia on the Italy-Slovenia border but several riders went down 23km from the line to set up a dramatic finish.

The crash split the peloton, with about 20 riders avoiding the chaos to keep up the chase of the breakaway trio.

But they could not reel in Asgreen as Denmark's EF Education-EasyPost rider, 30, claimed his second Grand Tour stage win by 16 seconds.

Alpecin-Deceuninck's Kaden Groves outsprinted Visma-Lease a Bike rider Olav Kooij to take second place.

Race leader Isaac del Toro was in the chase group and so retained the pink jersey, but only after surviving another scare towards the end of the 195km route from Treviso.

Several of his GC rivals lost further time though.

More to follow.