Ruben Plaza (Israel Cycling Academy) threw everything he had at the Giro d`Italia`s 18th stage on Thursday, infiltrating the day`s main breakaway and then surviving to be among the final three fighting for victory on the summit finish at the Prato Nevoso ski resort. The 38-year-old Spaniard came up just short of adding a Giro d`Italia stage to his collection of Grand Tour stage wins, however, finishing second to winner Maximillian Schachmann (Quick-Step Floors) with a gritty performance that saw him twice come back to the leaders after losing the pace in the closing kilometres. `I finished completely dead,` Plaza said after the line, still catching his breath from the effort.ADVERTISEMENT Plaza previously won stages in the Vuelta a Espana and Tour de France, and he said before the race that he wanted to add a Giro win to his palmares, and he put in a mighty effort to keep the promise. Plaza had been fighting to stick with the slowly shrinking breakaway since the road began to climb after a long day of flat terrain, but he jumped from his rivals with 8.7km to go as the leaders` advantage on the pink jersey group remained above 12 minutes. Schachmann quickly put the clamps on Plaza`s first acceleration, bringing across a group of five that included Androni-Sidermac`s Mattia Cattaneo and Bora-Hansgrohe`s Christoff Pfingsten. The Spanish rider`s second move only launched Schachmann and Cattaneo into a duo move, with the pair trading attacks but unable to drop one another. Plaza lingered just a few seconds back, but he wasn`t done yet.
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