In cycling, the winner takes all, but sometimes winning means being the first to enter the final corner. Kane Bouwman (Jumbo Visma) knew this and made sure to be first into the tight left corner in the shadow of Santuario di Castelmonte.

While the others continued straight ahead and entered the Giro d'Italia race vehicle guidance area, the Jumbo-Visma rider sprinted across the finish line to celebrate his second stage win. He also won stage 7, Potenza, after spending the day in a breakaway group.

"I made no mistakes. I deserve this victory," Bouwman said after the finish.

Bouwman, a consummate climber, was confident in his chances for a sprint finish, despite the emergence of several strong rivals from the day's breakaway group. He also knew about the tight left turn late in the race.

"But I don't want to change, I don't want a different role. But I don't want to change and I don't want a different role."

"I'm good at sprinting. After a hard day, I'm one of the fastest guys in the lead group. I've already won a stage once, so I took a gamble.

"I knew there was a left-hand corner with 100 meters to go. My only chance to win was to be first into the corner. I started my sprint from fourth in the pack and passed them.

"But I didn't know the corner was that tight, and I went into it pretty fast, about 40 km/h. I had to brake, and I didn't have a chance. I had to brake and the guys behind me were braking too. Nobody crashed. I don't think I made a mistake."

Bouwman had to wait about 20 minutes in the podium area before the race commissaire studied the finish video replay and declared him the winner.

"I didn't do anything wrong," he insisted.

"I went over (second-place finisher) Mauro Schmidt (Quick-Step Alphavinir) in the sprint. I didn't design the parkour, the organizers made the corners. I just sprinted to win."

Bouwman was joined on the podium by Jumbo Visma teammate Edoardo Affini, who hugged Bouwman when Bouwman was declared the winner.

"Half of this victory belongs to Edoardo and half to me. He and the rest of the players pulled big early on and on the valley road to make sure the break got away."

"I'm very happy with the way I played,"

"I'm very happy with the way I played.

Bouwman now leads the mountains classification with 294 points, with Giulio Ciccone (Trek-Segafredo) in second place with 103 points. Bouwman will take the blue jersey if he survives Saturday's stage in the Dolomites.

"In the Dauphiné, he won the mountains jersey for the first time.

"I'm the fourth Dutchman to win the mountains jersey in a Grand Tour. It's special."

"I've lost the mountains jersey by two points before, so I'll keep attacking. I also wanted to win a stage. I'm happy to have both."

The loss of Jumbo-Visma leader Tom Dumoulin changed Bouman's Giro d'Italia, relieving him of his usual domestique duties.

"We have a good leader in every race, almost always going for GC and finishing on the podium. To be honest, I like my role as a domestique," he humbly explained.

"I won a stage in the Giro and maybe I can break more freely. But I don't want to change. I'm happy with a victory like today."