Alberto Bettiol of EF Education won the 18th stage of the Giro d'Italia, the longest of the race at 231 kilometres, on Thursday in Stradella. Bettiol hunted down Frenchman Remi Cavagna of Deceuninck who had escaped from a big breakaway group with 20 kilometres to go and finished 18 seconds ahead of Irishman Nicholas Roche of DSM. The main peloton, including the overall leader, Colombian Egan Bernal of Ineos, was nearly 20 minutes behind when Cavagna crossed the line. jm/pb/bsp