Canola led Jackson Rodríguez and Angelo Tulik, who formed part of an early six-man breakaway, round the final bend as he edged ahead in a sprint at the end of the mainly flat, 158 kilometre leg from Fossano to Rivarolo Canavese.

The trio had been part of a six-man group that broke away from the peloton practically from the start of the stage.

The peloton had largely left them to their own devices as Rodríguez, at 57 minutes down, was the best of the group in terms of the general classification.

The relatively flat stage had been expected to end in a bunch sprint but race officials slowed the chasing peloton in the closing 30km after a hailstorm had left debris on the already wet roads.

That allowed the six riders who had broken away to maintain their lead of more than two minutes as they entered the final 25km.

As the course began to dry, Garmin-Sharp took up the chase, prompting Canola, Rodríguez and Tulik to make a further break.

The peloton continued to close the gap, catching three of the original six escapees.  

Marco Canola broke first as he edged Jackson Rodríguez and Angelo Tulik in a three-way sprint to the line on the 13th stage of this year's Giro d'Italia ©AFP/Getty Images



Canola, riding for Bardiani Valvole, was the first of the remaining trio of breakaways to start his sprint and held on to win his first Grand Tour stage ahead of Venezuelan Rodríguez and Frenchman Tulik.

"It's a massive surprise and a special win for me," Canola said.

"Sometimes in life you get unexpected opportunities and today is the best day of my sporting career so far.

"I hope it's the first of many."

The peloton crossed the line just 11 seconds later.

Nacer Bouhanni, winner of three stages in this year's race, won the sprint from the bunch, extending his lead in the points classification over Giacomo Nizzolo of Trek Factory Racing.

There were no changes in the general standings, as Omega Pharma-QuickStep's Urán successfully defended the leader's jersey he won the previous day, keeping the lead at 37 seconds over Australian Cadel Evans as the pair finished in the main peloton.

"There is never an easy day in the Giro, it was still a dangerous stage," Urán said.

"The only easy days are the rest days.

"We didn't want to take any risks today so we rode at the front all day, but we were not riding to control the breakaway."

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