Cort outkicks Ottawa cyclist Derek Gee to win Stage 10 of Giro d'Italia in rain, cold

Magnus Cort won a wet and cold 10th stage of the Giro d'Italia on Tuesday and Geraint Thomas kept hold of the pink jersey.

Cort edged Derek Gee of Ottawa and Alessandro De Marchi at the end of the rolling 196-kilometre route through the Tuscan Apennines from Scandiano to Viareggio on the Mediterranean coast in Italy. All three were part of a breakaway.

Competing in his first Grand Tour, Gee finished runner-up to Irish rider Ben Healy in Stage 8 on Saturday.

The 25-year-old was part of a four-man breakaway, staying near the front despite a string of punishing climbs.

"It feels like a win. I'm over the moon," Gee, who rides for the Israel-Premier Tech team, said from Fossomborone, Italy. "Coming into this Giro, I thought I had no chance, I was just trying to survive and get experience, so this is amazing.

Canadians have made headlines at the Giro in the past.

Ryder Hesjedal won the race in 2012 and Svein Tuft wore the pink leader's jersey in 2014 after his Orica-GreenEdge squad won the opening team time trial. Including this year, a Canadian has taken part in the last 17 editions of the Giro.

The near miss was particularly painful for De Marchi, who is still seeking his first stage victory in his home Grand Tour in his seventh Giro.

Thomas took race lead on Sunday

The victory completed a Grand Tour set for Cort, who won six stages in the Spanish Vuelta and two in the Tour de France.

Thomas, who rides for Ineos Grenadiers, moved into the lead on Sunday after pre-race favourite Remco Evenepoel had to withdraw after testing positive for the coronavirus. Evenepoel had a 45-second advantage over Thomas.

Other riders have also had to abandon after returning positive tests for COVID-19, including Domenico Pozzovivo and Rigoberto Uran.

Thomas maintained his two-second lead over Primoz Roglic after they both finished safely in the peloton, in terrible conditions, 51 seconds behind Cort.

Tao Geoghegan Hart was third overall, five seconds behind his teammate Thomas. There were miserable conditions from the start of the stage, with rain and freezing temperatures.

It was even discussed whether to amend the route over the top of the day's main climb, the second-category Passo delle Radici. Team buses followed the riders for a while in case they were needed to transport them if conditions worsened, before it was eventually decided to race the stage as normal.

However, race organizers announced Friday's Stage 13 to the summit finish at Crans-Montana would be shortened with the top-category climb of the Passo del Gran San Bernardo cut due to snowfall and risk of avalanches.

Wednesday's 11th stage is a 219 km route from Camaiore to Tortona, with three lower-classification climbs.

The Giro ends in Rome on May 28.