Victor Campenaerts (Team Qhubeka Assos) took the victory on stage 15 of the Giro d'Italia into Gorizia. Campenaerts beat breakaway rival Oscar Riesebeek (Alpecin-Fenix) in a two-up sprint to the finish line, while Nikias Arndt (Team DSM) finished third.
The main field, that included maglia rosa Egan Bernal (Ineos Grenadiers), finished 17 minutes back but he maintained his lead in the overall classification of 1:33 ahead of Simon Yates (Team BikeExchange) and 1:51 ahead of Damiano Caruso (Bahrain Victorious).
The 147 kilometre stage from Grado to Gorizia was marred by a mass-race crash in the first four kilometres that saw the peloton neutralised for 25 minutes to allow medical staff to reach the site where the accident occurred.
Injured riders Emanuel Buchmann (Bora-Hansgrohe), Natnael Berhane (Cofidis), Jos Van Emden (Jumbo-Visma) and Ruben Guerreiro (EF Education-Nippo) were forced to abandon the Giro d'Italia.
Campenaerts and Riesebeek formed part of a large breakaway but they cleared their rivals over the top of the final climb, Gornje Cerovo, and descended into Gorizia in what was a tactical battle for the stage victory won by Campenaerts.
