The German again showed his power and endurance to win the sprint for victory as he did on Stage 12, this time beating out Derek Gee (Israel Premier-Tech) and Alberto Bettiol (EF Education EasyPost).
The finishing trio managed to chase down and overtake a lead group of the other breakaway riders of the day in Stefano Oldani (Alpecin-Deceuninck), Toms Skujins (Trek-Segafredo) and Davide Ballerini (Soudal-QuickStep) who had attacked with 50 kilometres to go.
“I felt super good today and I got from the beginning the opportunity to go for the break, which I used again,” Denz said after the stage. “I was marking Trek, Israel and Movistar, who were all with numbers. I thought we lost it because it seemed that they couldn’t close it."
“But then the attacks went on the hills in the final. I still felt really good and followed. In the end, we almost closed it but when we stopped pushing, I thought it was all for nothing.
"I didn’t want fourth because I already won so I closed it and then Bettiol launched. I jumped on his wheel and went full to the line and – again, crazy."
Bruno Armirail (Groupama-FDJ) managed to finish 53 seconds behind the podium group and take over the overall lead, snatching the maglia rosa from Geraint Thomas (INEOS Grenadiers) who spent another cautious day with his team in the peloton.
The Frenchman's efforts now see him with the biggest overall lead in the race so far, Thomas trailing in second by a minute and 41 seconds with seven stages to go to the finish in Rome.
The Giro d'Italia continues tonight with Stage 15, a 195 kilometre mountain stage from Seregno to Bergamo. Watch the action LIVE from 7:35pm AEST on SBS VICELAND and SBS On Demand.
