Paul Magnier of Soudal Quick-Step completed a hat-trick of victories in this Giro d’Italia in a bunch sprint on stage 18 in the Veneto town of Pieve di Soligo.

The 22-year-old was perfectly set up by his teammate Jasper Stuyven in the final few high-speed turns and powered to the line after 171km of racing, ahead of two Italian sprinters.

Edoardo Zambanini (Bahrain Victorious) was second with Jonathan Milan (Lidl-Trek) third on an undulating stage that began in Fai della Paganella in Trentino. Victory for Magnier, who also won the first and third stages, in Bulgaria, means he takes the lead in the points classification.

Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease A Bike), the overall race leader, attacked on the day’s short sharp final climb inside the final 10km, but settled for a place in the main bunch to preserve his big advantage. The Dane is attempting to complete the set of Grand Tour triumphs and leads Felix Gall (Decathlon CMA CGM) by 4min 03sec with three stages left.

The stage came alive after a four-man break of Mattia Bais, Andrea Mifsud (both Polti-VisitMalta), Jonas Geens (Alpecin-Premier Tech) and James Shaw (EF Education-EasyPost) was caught with around 25km to go.

The 1.1km Il Muro di Ca’ del Poggio ramp, with gradients of 19%, provided a sharp sting in the tail and for a while it looked like Vingegaard might go for the stage win.

Afonso Eulálio (Bahrain Victorious), who recovered from a crash, also sensed an opportunity. But it was a day for the sprinters and Soudal Quick-Step played the perfect hand as Stuyven led Magnier into the final tricky corner, giving his teammate the perfect line for his final burst of acceleration to the line.

“I had a lot of confidence this morning,” said Magnier, who also wore the race leader’s Maglia Rosa jersey after his earlier stage wins. “My teammates made it into a sprint and I’m so happy to win. Jasper made an amazing lead-out.”