NOS Cycling•today, 5:25 PM
Tim Merlier of Soudal-QuickStep has won the third stage in the Giro. In the first sprint stage of this Tour of Italy, the Belgian was too fast for Jonathan Milan (Lidl-Trek) and Biniam Girmay (Wanty).
Merlier starts in stage four in purple. The Belgian, like Jonathan Milan, has 63 points in the points classification, but is at the top due to his stage win.
Of the Dutch sprinters, Olav Kooij was the best, with sixth place. He had fallen yesterday, but was still able to compete for the places of honor. Fabio Jakobsen left the sprint to his teammate Tobias Lund Andresen, who finished a creditable fifth. Danny van Poppel finished in 15th place.
It turned out not to be a foregone conclusion that it would still be a sprint. Three kilometers before the finish, Pogacar responded to an attack by Mikkel Honoré, Geraint Thomas immediately parried the attack. It seemed that the three could prevent a bunch sprint. When Honoré had to leave, Thomas and the pink jersey stayed in front. They kept that up until well into the last kilometer, but the sprinters just managed to catch up.
Intermediate sprints
The ride from Novara to Fossano over more than 166 kilometers was made for sprinters. In the first hundred kilometers there was no serious exit attempt. After the first intermediate sprint, a group of sprinters stayed ahead for some time, but they were eventually brought back.
The only skirmishes were around the intermediate sprints. Milan proved to be the fastest by taking the full spoils twice. The peloton also broke into pieces about fifty kilometers before the finish, but this was quickly repaired by the teams that had fallen behind, such as Visma-Lease a Bike with Cian Uijtdebroeks.
Along the way, Pogacar picked up a two-second bonus, Thomas took one. The Slovenian thus strengthened his leading position in the rankings,
Olav Kooij was satisfied with how his body felt afterwards at Eurosport. The fact that he did not win was due to poor position selection, according to the Dutchman who finished sixth.
Fabio Jakobsen was already a bit afraid of it before the start and was indeed unable to compete for prizes in the bunch sprint. The last hill killed him. “Five hundred meters before the top I had to let go of the wheels and my legs exploded,” the Dutchman said at Eurosport.
Sprint again tomorrow?
Eddie Dunbar, seventh in the final classification of the Giro last year, did not start today. The Irishman is suffering from a knee injury.
Tomorrow in the fourth stage the riders will go from Acqui Terme to Andora over 190 kilometers. On paper it looks like another ride for the sprinters, but there are still quite a few elevation meters to be conquered along the way.
