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NOVI LIGURE, Italy, May 22 (Reuters) - Australian Caleb Ewan won the 11th stage of the Giro d'Italia on Wednesday after a bunch sprint at the end of a 221-kilometre ride from Carpi to Novi Ligure.
The Lotto-Soudal rider timed his late attack to perfection as he edged Arnaud Demare (Groupama–FDJ) and a wounded Pascal Ackermann (Bora–Hansgrohe) in a thrilling finale, adding to his victory on stage eight.
"Ackermann was the first sprinter who came by me on his train so I decided to jump on him," Ewan said.
"He went quite early so I could wait and then time my sprint to perfection.
"My team did a great job and I'm really happy to pay them back with another win. This is the most successful Grand Tour I have done so I'm really happy with my progression."
Italian champion Elia Viviani (Deceuninck-Quick-Step), who remains without a victory in this year's race, faded and had to settle for fourth spot.
Valerio Conte of UAE Team Emirates retained the overall leader's pink jersey, with Slovenian Primoz Roglic one minute and 50 seconds adrift on a straightforward day for the leading race contenders.
A shake-up in the overall standings is expected on stage 12, which features the tough Montoso ascent, before the first big day in the mountains on Friday.
(Reporting by Hardik Vyas in Bengaluru, Editing by Toby Davis and Ed Osmond)
((Hardik.Vyas@thomsonreuters.com;))
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