OMNISPORT

Matteo Trentin snatched victory from Moreno Moser and Gianluca Brambilla on stage 18 of the Giro d'Italia with a superb sprint finish.

The Etixx – Quick Step rider launched his attack in the final kilometre of the route from Muggio to Pinerolo and only took the lead with 300 metres to go.

The Italian held off Brambilla and Moser after the duo had battled it out on the circuit loop that ended the 240km stage – the longest of this year's Giro.

Further back overall leader Steven Kruijswijk had another comfortable day in the saddle, the Dutch Lotto NL - Jumbo rider coming home 13 minutes behind the stage winner with his three-minute lead still in tact.

A 25-man group had made the early running on the relatively flat stage and saw their lead stretch to over 12 minutes as they reached the only climb of the day.

The breakaway maintained their advantage following that ascent, but slowly the chasing pack began to reel them in, with the leader's group keeping a safe distance ahead of the sprint finish.

Stage 17 winner Roger Kluge (IAM Cycling) was first to move clear on his own, but back-to-back wins proved too much as Olivier Le Gac (FDJ) and Pavel Brutt (Tinkoff) quickly assumed the lead.

However, the duo were not ahead for long as Moser and Brambilla looked set to decide the top two.