Hat Trick for Démare as Lopez retains the pink jersey

Four-man breakaway of the day caught on the line as Demare out guns the top Sprinters. It comes as the race heads into the mountains for the final week

The four-man break of the day looked like they might go all the way to the finish in Cuneo, but the peloton timed the chase perfectly and caught them 700 metres before the finish-line. French fast-man, Arnaud Démare, took his third stage win of this Giro d’Italia.

Sprint leader Demare (Groupama–FDJ) once again proved dominant as he pipped Phil Bauhaus (Bahrain Victorious) to the finish line with Britain's Mark Cavendish (Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl) coming home in third.

Spaniard Juan Pedro Lopez retained his 12-second overall lead to hold on to the pink jersey.

GC favorite Romain Bardet abandoned the Giro d'Italia with stomach problems on the stage and climb into his team car.

Five riders, Nicolas Prodhomme, Pascal Eenkhoorn, Julius van den Berg, Filippo Tagliani and Mirco Maestri, launched a successful breakaway with a 140km remaining.

Tagliani was dropped on a climb with 100km remaining but the remainder of the group stayed away and looked like being able to contest for the stage win but were reeled in with one kilometre remaining. Groupama-FDJ's riders then got Demare into position to claim victory and he duly obliged.

"At some point I started to doubt that we'd be able to catch the breakaway because some elements of my team had given everything they had," Demare, who secured his eighth Giro win, said. "They were very committed actually. I've also had the feeling that I was cooked myself.

"Only with 10 km to go, I've started to believe it would be a sprint finish. I was at the limit for sprinting. It's exceptional to get one more win. Three is a lot."

The stage unfolded at a blistering pace with an average speed of 45.393 kph, making this the first time in the history of the Giro that three consecutive stages had an average speed of at least 45 kph.

Ecuador's Richard Carapaz remained in second overall, ahead of Portugal's Joao Almeida with both riders tied for time.

Frenchman Romain Bardet (DSM), who was fourth in the overall standings, pulled out due to illness.

Saturday's stage 14 is a challenging 147km ride from Santena to Torino, which begins with a short flat section before a series of climbs.

VIDEO: 2022 Giro d’Italia Stage 13 Highlights

2022 Giro d’Italia Stage 13 Top 10

01 FRA Arnaud Démare Groupama-FDJ 03:18:16
02 GER Phil Bauhaus Bahrain Victorious + 00
03 GBR Mark Cavendish Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl Team + 00
04 COL Fernando Gaviria UAE Team Emirates + 00
05 ITA Alberto Dainese Team DSM + 00
06 ITA Simone Consonni Cofidis + 00
07 BEL Dries De Bondt Alpecin-Fenix + 00
08 ITA Giacomo Nizzolo Israel-Premier Tech + 00
09 ITA Andrea Vendrame AG2R Citroën Team + 00
10 AUT Tobias Bayer Alpecin-Fenix + 00

2022 Giro d’Italia GC after Stage 13

01 ESP Juan Pedro Lopez Trek-Segafredo 54:37:23
02 ECU Richard Carapaz INEOS Grenadiers + 12
03 POR Joao Almeida UAE Team Emirates + 12
04 AUS Jai Hindley BORA-hansgrohe + 20
05 FRA Guillaume Martin Cofidis + 28
06 ESP Mikel Landa Bahrain Victorious + 29
07 ITA Domenico Pozzovivo Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert + 54
08 GER Emanuel Buchmann BORA-hansgrohe + 01:09
09 ESP Pello Bilbao Bahrain Victorious + 01:22
10 ESP Alejandro Valverde Movistar Team + 01:23