Verbania (Italy) (AFP) - Alberto Bettiol won the 13th stage of the Giro d’Italia on Friday while Afonso Eulalio retained the overall lead as the contenders kept their powder dry ahead of a big weekend for the general classification.

Italian Bettiol took charge of the stage, 189 kilometres from Alessandria to Verbania, in the last few metres of the final Ungiasca climb when he surged past Andreas Leknessund and went all in for the finish line to claim his first Grand Tour stage since the 2021 Giro.

Portuguese Eulalio, 33 seconds ahead of pre-race favourite Jonas Vingegaard in the general classification, had little to do on a day in which the main peloton decided to leave a 15-man breakaway to have its day and rolled in over 13 minutes later.

It was the third win for an Italian in this year’s Giro after Davide Ballerini and Filippo Ganna in stages six and 10, and a special one for Bettiol whose girlfriend is from Verbania.

“It’s a second home to me… I knew at the beginning that all of my family, all of her family and my closest friends would be at the finish,” said Bettiol to RAI.

“The most difficult thing today was getting and staying in the break. Once I was in it I fought hard to lose as little time as possible on the climbs before getting some time back on the descent… it all went better than expected.”

The fiendish structure of the stage – a long flat run before two categorised climbs in the final 30km – led to a series of attacks and splits in the peloton in the opening stages.

Eventually a break settled into place and was left to charge off into the distance by the peloton, which contained all the main jersey contenders.

By the time the break got to the start of the Bieno climb the peloton was over 11 minutes behind, and the attacks started in the leading group near the summit of the final Ungiasca climb.

Leknessund pulled away in a bid to take the stage before Bettiol, who was in hot pursuit, shot into the lead just before the crest of the climb and began to fly down the descent towards Verbania.

Bettiol, who rides for Astana, basked in the applause of the local fans in the town on the banks of Lake Maggiore before the main group crossed the line, with all eyes on what will be a brutal 14th stage on Saturday.

There will be more movement among the general classification contenders over 133 kilometres from Aosta which feature two category one climbs, including an Alpine summit finish in Pila.