[ad_1]
Giro Stage 3 Race Report: After a less than startling stage, Mark Cavendish took an impressive stage win ahead of Arnaud Démare and Fernando Gaviria. The ‘Manx Missile’ went early and none of the other fast-finishers could get past him. Mathieu van der Poel held the pink jersey going into the first rest day.
Watch the most comprehensive live & ad-free coverage of the Giro d’Italia 2022 on GCN+. Go deeper and get interactive with live polls & quizzes, plus rider profiles, race updates, results & more – plus stream original and exclusive cycling documentaries. Watch it all with GCN+ on any device.
Stage 3 final K
A strong sprint from Mark Cavendish
The third stage of the Giro d’Italia 2022 was won by Mark Cavendish. After a flat stage of 201 kilometres, finishing in Balatonfüred, the Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl rider was the fastest in the bunch sprint. Mathieu van der Poel remains in possession of the pink jersey and will wear it on Tuesday in Sicilia.
The jersey leaders line-up at the start
The Route:
Stage 3 runs around Lake Balaton, the Hungarian sea. At first, the route approaches the lake on mildly undulating roads. After Nagykanizsa, the route heads towards the Balaton, rolling all the way to the shore. Skirting along the lakeshore for the final 50 km, the route takes in one final short climb by the Tihany Abbey. The stage finale is mostly straight, with just a few mild bends.
Final kilometres
The final kilometres are virtually flat. Past the Tihany Peninsula, the route follows the coast, taking a short climb (with a few metres’ drop) in the last kilometre. The final 500 metres rise almost imperceptibly, all the way to the home straight.
The fans were out again to see the Giro peloton
As normal on a sprinter’s stage, there was a short battle to be in the early break. Shortly after the starting gun, three riders broke away from the peloton, including Drone Hopper-Androni Giocattoli’s Mattia Bais and Filippo Tagliani. These two had formed the break in the opening stage to Visegrád. This time they had Samuele Rivi of EOLO-Kometa for company.
Even the dinosaurs are in pink
The peloton was quite happy to give the three more than 5 minutes lead, but Alpecin-Fenix started to chase after 50 kilometres. The team of pink jersey Mathieu van der Poel reduced the difference to under 3 minutes fairly quickly. The first abandonment of the Giro: Jan Tratnik suffered too much from his wrist after his crash on the opening day and had to stop.
The break of the (long) day
The lead fluctuated between 2 and 3 minutes for a long time. Alpecin-Fenix, Lotto Soudal, Groupama-FDJ and Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl were at the front of the pack. They were working for their sprinters Caleb Ewan, Arnaud Démare and Mark Cavendish.
Van der Poel and the Alpecin-Fenix team seemed happy
With more than 40 kilometres to go to the finish there was some action. Rivi attacked in the leading group and managed to drop Tagliani. Bais was able to follow Rivi’s wheel, leaving us with two men in the lead. The EOLO-Kometa rider then made another attempt, but was unable to prevent the escape coming to an end 28 kilometres from the finish.
There has to be field/peloton shot
The peloton then rode on at a steady pace. On the only climb of the day, Pascal Eenkhoorn and Rick Zabel sprinted for the points. The Jumbo-Visma rider beat the German, so that they now both have 5 points in the mountains classification. Zabel will wear the mountain jersey, as he is higher on the general classification.
The pace was not ‘blistering’
Eenkhoorn decided to continue on his own after the KOM sprint. He briefly had an 11 second lead, but the peloton pulled him in 6 kilometres from the finish. Then it was time for the sprint trains to sort them selves out. Alpecin-Fenix, Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl and Groupama-FDJ pushed their way to the front. Mark Cavendish was brought perfectly into the last kilometre.
The break wasn’t going to stay away
The pink jersey of Van der Poel also near the front in the service of Jakub Mareczko, but the Italian was not on the Dutchman’s wheel. On the other side of the road, Cavendish started his sprint from far out, after good preparatory work by Michael Mørkøv. The Briton made a long sprint and kept Arnaud Démare and Fernando Gaviria behind him by nearly a bike length, to record his 16th stage win in the Giro d’Italia.
Zabel wanted the all KOM points for himself, but it wasn’t to be
Démare and Gaviria were second and third. Behind that Biniam Girmay managed to take fourth place. Edward Theuns was in sixth place, finishing ahead of top favourite Caleb Ewan, who was poorly placed in the final kilometre and sprinted to eighth place.
Cavendish hit the front early
Stage winner, Mark Cavendish (Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl): “I’m very happy. It’s nice to win. I wanted to do good in the first sprint. We have half of the team for climbing and half of the team for the sprints here. My teammates rode incredibly well. We had a set up and they delivered. I had to go long at 300m to go. I’m happy it worked well.”
Cavendish held them all off to the line
Maglia Rosa, Mathieu Van der Poel (Alpecin-Fenix): “We did a very nice job as a team. We gave Mareczko a good lead out. He lost a wheel at a roundabout and got boxed in. He has more chances in the coming days. I’m happy to bring the Maglia Rosa to Italy. It’s been an amazing past few days here in Hungary.”
Mathieu van der Poel still very pink!
# Stay PEZ for all the Giro news in EUROTRASH the ‘Rest Day Rant’ on Monday. #
Giro d’Italia Stage 3 Result:
1. Mark Cavendish (GB) Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl in 4:56:39
2. Arnaud Démare (Fra) Groupama-FDJ
3. Fernando Gaviria (Col) UAE Team Emirates
4. Biniam Girmay (Eri) Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert Matériaux
5. Jakub Mareczko (Ita) Alpecin-Fenix
6. Edward Theuns (Bel) Trek-Segafredo
7. Simone Consonni (Ita) Cofidis
8. Caleb Ewan (Aus) Lotto Soudal
9. Alberto Dainese (Ita) DSM
10. Phil Bauhaus (Ger) Bahrain-Victorious.
Giro d’Italia Overall After Stage 3:
1. Mathieu van der Poel (Ned) Alpecin-Fenix in 9:43:50
2. Simon Yates (GB) BikeExchange-Jayco at 0:11
3. Tom Dumoulin (Ned) Jumbo-Visma at 0:16
4. Matteo Sobrero (Ita) BikeExchange-Jayco at 0:24
5. Wilco Kelderman (Ned) BORA-hansgrohe
6. Ben Tulett (GB) INEOS Grenadiers
7. Tobias Foss (Nor) Jumbo-Visma at 0:28
8. Bauke Mollema (Ned) Trek-Segafredo
9. Pello Bilbao (Spa) Bahrain-Victorious at 0:29
10. Mauro Schmid (Swi) Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl.
Watch the most comprehensive live & ad-free coverage of the Giro d’Italia 2022 on GCN+. Go deeper and get interactive with live polls & quizzes, plus rider profiles, race updates, results & more – plus stream original and exclusive cycling documentaries. Watch it all with GCN+ on any device.
Like PEZ? Why not subscribe to our weekly newsletter to receive updates and reminders on what’s cool in road cycling?
[ad_2]
