At the end of an opening weekend marred by crashes, French professional cyclist Paul Magnier won the third stage of the Giro d’Italia. On the last section in the host country Bulgaria, the 22-year-old from the Soudal Quick-Step team prevailed in the mass sprint and celebrated his second victory of the day in the Tour of Italy.
“I dreamed of winning another stage,” said Magnier: “The team did a great job.” Jonathan Milan from Italy came second after 175 km from Plovdiv to Sofia, followed by Dylan Groenewegen from the Netherlands.
There were no relevant changes in the overall ranking after the stage with only one difficulty, the not very steep Borovets Pass after around 100 km. The Uruguayan Guillermo Thomas Silva (XDS Astana) remains in the pink jersey, the German Florian Stork (Tudor Pro Cycling) in second place. Top favorite Jonas Vingegaard also crossed the finish line with the peloton.
The field almost misjudged the follow-up work of the three-man leading group, which set off at the start of the race. The long leaders were only caught a few meters before the finish before the sprinters decided the winner among themselves. Pascal Ackermann was trapped and sprinted to the finish in seventh place.
“They’re all stupid. The Estonian (Madis Mihkels/4th place, editor) got completely into my car and I’m glad that I still have my skin,” Ackermann complained to Eurosport.
The start of the Giro in Bulgaria was overshadowed at the beginning of the weekend by violent mass crashes that forced several top riders to give up. Britain’s Adam Yates suffered abrasions and a concussion in the massive crash on a rainy downhill on Saturday and was unable to compete on Sunday. Colleagues of co-favorites in the UAE Team Emirates-XRG, Jay Vine (concussion and broken elbow) and Marc Soler (broken pelvis), also had to give up.
Due to the complex transfer of the teams to Italy, there will be an unusually early rest day on Monday. On Tuesday the fourth stage runs from Catanzaro to Cosenza over just 138 km. The decision about overall victory will probably come in the third week of the tour in the Dolomites.
