photo credits @ Gazzetta dello Sport
Tim Merlier (Soudal-QuickStep) claimed stage 3 of the Giro d’Italia today, beating Jonathan Milan (Lidl-Trek) on the line after a late attack led by race leader Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates) was nullified just 300 meters from the finish.
Pogačar attacked alongside Geraint Thomas (Ineos Grenadiers) and Mikkel Honoré (EF Education-EasyPost) with 3km to go, but a fast-charging peloton managed to reel in the trio within sight of the line, setting up a last-minute chaotic sprint that saw the Belgian rider emerge victorious.
Race Highlights
It took 50km of racing before Lilian Calmejane decided to animate things, with the Frenchman briefly attacking along a Category 4 climb before returning back into the fold, while Davide Ballerini carried on alone for just a few kilometers before being absorbed by the peloton as well.
Filippo Fiorelli was the next to go on the attack, drawing out a group of some 20 riders with him that contained the likes of Biniam Girmay, Kaden Groves, David Dekker, Danny van Poppel, Laurence Pithie, Merlier, Milan, Christophe Laporte, Olav Kooij and Alberto Dainese.
From there, the breakaway went on to establish an advantage of around a minute and a half, with Milan taking the sprint points ahead of Merlier and Groves.
However, it wasn’t long before the peloton began cutting into the leaders’ gap, with the group eventually getting reeled in with just over 43km to go.
There was a brief detente in the peloton before Ben Swift ignited the field during the final intermediate sprint, taking the maximum three-second bonus ahead of Pogačar and Thomas.
Heading into the final 15km, rain inundated the field, with INEOS Grenadiers keeping the pace on high at the front, prompting Honoré to launch an attack with just over 3km to go, a move that was closely marked by Pogačar and Thomas.
As Thomas and Pogačar continued to up the pace, Honoré found himself in difficulty during the final kilometer, with the two maglia rosa contenders opening up a clear gap at the front.
However, the duo was ultimately reined in during the closing few hundred meters, with Merlier edging out Milan and Girmay for the stage honors.
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