PIEVE DI SOLIGO, Italy, May 28 (Reuters) - ⁠France's Paul Magnier made it a hat-trick of victories in this year's Giro d'Italia as he ⁠comfortably won a bunch sprint at the end of stage 18 on Thursday.

The 22-year-old Soudal ‌Quick-Step rider was perfectly set up by teammate Jasper Stuyven in the final few high-speed turns and powered to the line ahead of two Italian sprinters.

Edoardo Zambanini (Bahrain Victorious) was second with Jonathan Milan (Lidl-Trek) third.

Victory for Magnier, who also won the first and third ​stages in Bulgaria, means he takes the lead in the fight ⁠for the points classification jersey.

Overall race leader ⁠Jonas Vingegaard attacked on the day's short sharp final climb inside the last 10km but settled for a ⁠place ‌in the main bunch to preserve his big lead.

Denmark's Vingegaard (Team Visma - Lease A Bike), bidding to complete his set of Grand Tour triumphs, leads by 4:03 minutes with three stages left.

FOUR-MAN BREAK

The ⁠171km stage came alive after a four-man break of Mattia Bais (Polti–VisitMalta), ​Andrea Mifsud (Polti–VisitMalta), Jonas Geens (Alpecin–Premier Tech) ‌and James Shaw (EF Education–EasyPost) was caught with around 25 km 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.

Previous General Classification leader Afonso Eulalio, who recovered from a crash earlier in the day ⁠when his arm got caught in a feed bag, also ​sensed an opportunity and briefly opened up a gap to the chasing pack.

But in the end 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 young 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."

For stage favourite Milan, it was a disappointing day ⁠as he got out of position around the final corner.

"My guys did an amazing job and I have to ​say sorry to them, it was my fault to take that ‌last corner as fourth wheel, I should have been ​right behind Magnier," he said.

Friday's 19th stage returns to the high mountains with a 151-km test in the Dolomites featuring 5,000 metres of climbing.

(Reporting by Martyn Herman; Editing by Andrew Cawthorne)