Giro d’Italia, 3rd stage: Merlier defeats Milan in the sprint! Pogacar is unleashed

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TIM MERLIER THE THIRD STAGE WINS GIRO D’ITALIA 2024! Incredible comeback by the Belgian from Soudal-QuickStep, who started from the back, but came out very well in the last hundred meters from the wheel of his opponents. In Fossano, therefore, Merlier triumphed and put an excellent result behind him, almost at the photo finish Jonathan Milan (Lidl Trek). Third position, however, for Biniam Girmay (Intermarché-Wanty) which leaves the Belgian off the podium Jenthe Biermans (Arkèa-B&B Hotels).

Fifth Tobias Lund Andersen (Team Dsm), ahead of Olav Kooij (Visma-Lease a Bike) e Ethan Vernon (Israel-Premier Tech). They close the top ten Stanislaw Aniolkowski (Cofidis), Fernando Gaviria (Movistar) e Alberto Dainese (Tudor).

Tadej Pogacar great protagonist in the final stage. The pink jersey responded to the attack Mikkel Honoré (EF Education) within the last four kilometers carrying with it also Geraint Thomas (Ineos-Grenadiers). The pace set by the Slovenian was really high, so much so that the Danish Honoré was forced to raise the white flag, while the British Thomas tried to resist gritting his teeth. The two were caught again when there were only 200 meters left to the finish line in Fossano.

Last kilometre!

5.18pm (-2 km): Incredible pace from Pogacar who breaks away from Honoré and is left alone with Thomas. Crazy what we are seeing from the rider in the pink jersey.

5.17pm (-3 km): Attention, Pogacar, Thomas and Mikkel Honoré leave on the only marker present in this race finale!

5.15pm (-4 km): Speeds currently exceeding 70 km/h!

17.10 (-8 km): Ineos-Grenadiers, Groupama-FDJ and Alpecin-Deceuninck in the very first positions.

17.06 (-11 km): The sprinters’ teams begin to prepare the trains in view of the final sprint.

17.01 (-15km): It’s raining on the race right now. Runners won’t be happy about this at all.

4.57pm (-18 km): Puncture for Molano, sprinter of the UAE Team Emirates. Not a good time for problems like this.

4.53pm (-21 km): Ben Swift takes first place on TV from Tadej Pogacar, who finishes second and takes a 2 second bonus. Thomas got one. The sprinters avoided sprinting so as not to lose energy.

4.47pm (-24 km): The group speeds towards the Cherasco TV where points will be awarded for the cyclamen jersey.

4.43pm (-28 km): Be careful because it is raining upon arrival!

4.37pm (-34 km): We are approaching the Flying Finish Line of Cherasco. Will the sprinters push themselves or save energy for the final sprint?

4.33pm (-36 km): This morning we also chatted with the young Lorenzo Germani, hear what he told us HERE.

4.29pm (-39 km): The pace of the group remains rather high.

The fourth hour of the race begins!

4.25pm (-43 km): Compact group!

4.20pm (-47 km): The Uijtdebroeks group reunites with the pink jersey group.

16.14 (-53 km): All the big names in the general team in the pink jersey group 30″ from the attackers. Only Uijtdebroeks from Visma was surprised.

16.10 (-56 km): Movistar is among the most active teams in the group. Be careful though because a further group has been created behind the one in the pink jersey and inside is Cian Uijtdebroeks who was surprised.

16.06 (-60 km): Hear what Lorenzo Milesi from Movistar told us before the start by clicking HERE.

16.01 (-64 km): Now the group is driving hard. Lots of people on the roads of the Giro.

4.00pm (-65 km): As mentioned, Milan has no teammates on the run. Dainese has Trentin and Froidevaux, Kooij has Laporte, Merlier has Lamperti, Groves even has Planckaert, Bayer and Van den Bossche. Meanwhile, Fiorelli received assistance from the flagship.

3.56pm (-67 km): We give you the names of the attackers: Groves, Bayer, Planckaert, Van Den Bossche, Dekker, Van Poppel, Benjamin Thomas, Girmay, Mihkels, Petit, Lamperti, Merlier, Andresen, Vermaerke, Ewan, Laporte, Kooij , Trentin, Dainese, Fiorelli, Froidevaux, Marcellusi, Tarozzi and Milan, who just won the second flying finish in Montegrosso d’Asti with the group at 1’15”.

3.50pm (-73 km): Behind them they have woken up, now there are three teams trying to catch the fugitives. In fact, the lead of the 26 is getting smaller: 1’20” at the moment.

3.46pm (-76 km): Unfortunately Milan has no teammates with him. With him, in addition to the Fiorelli cyclamen jersey, there are also Merlier, Girmay, Groves, Dekker, Van Poppel, Kooij, Dainese.

3.44pm (-78 km): Rear wheel problems for Filippo Fiorelli, one of the attackers. They now have 1’45” on the pink jersey group.

3.40pm (-82 km): The sprinters continued on after Masio’s sprint and now have a minute and a half on the group, which was surprised. It is to all intents and purposes a breakaway of 26 riders.

3.34pm (-86 km): Sprint by Masio who goes to Jonathan Milan, alone, without a train!

3.32pm (-88 km): «The start was a bit complicated for us sprinters, but today should finally be the right day». Who said this this morning in Novara? You guessed it, Jonathan Milan.

3.27pm (-91 km): There are 174 riders in the group after the withdrawals of Gesink and Dunbar.

The third hour of racing at the Giro begins!

3.23pm (-94 km): We suggest you pass the time by reading HERE what Simone Consonni said to our Michela Vair at the start. Who, as you know if you also follow us on Instagram, received a beautiful bouquet of flowers from Tadej Pogacar yesterday in Oropa.

3.20pm (-95 km): Very relaxed atmosphere in the group, with Ballerini joking with De Marchi and Caruso about his anomalous escape. It promises to be a long afternoon. Stay with us.

15.18 (-97 km): Ballero finally made it, the group has – reluctantly, slowly – reabsorbed him.

15.17 (-97 km): Ballerini is almost at a standstill, he does everything to get caught. He goes very slowly.

15.14 (-98 km): Funny: Ballerini wants to be caught, but the group has slowed down further. Hard life for Davide.

15.04 (-105 km): The group also passed the Lu GPM. The white jersey of best youngster is held by Cian Uijtdebroeks, the very nice Belgian from Visma lease a bike.

15.01 (-107 km): Lilian Calmejane passes first at the Lu Gpm (fourth category) ahead of Davide Ballerini. Group at 1’32”.

2.59pm (-108 km): The Lu Gpm is 3.4 km long with an average gradient of 3.8%. For Ballerini and Calmejane the last 800 meters are missing.

2.55pm (-110 km): The two brave men head towards the Lu Mountain Grand Prix with a 29” advantage over the Pogacar group.

2.53pm (-111 km): At this moment Ballerini and Calmejane had a slight advantage.

2.52pm (-112 km): There are some timid attempts to start the breakaway, but Milan’s Lidl-Trek keeps a very careful watch.

2.48pm (-115 km): The blue jersey (leader of the Mountain Grand Prix) belongs to Tadej Pogacar, but today Dani Martinez is wearing it.

2.43pm (-118 km): Quiet day, they don’t let go of the breakaway, there are too many interests for them to finish in a sprint.

2.39pm (-120 km): The cyclamen jersey (leader of the points classification) goes to Filippo Fiorelli today, who stood out in the first two stages of the Giro.

2.32pm (-124 km): Read HERE instead the interesting analysis of yesterday’s stage by Stefano Garzelli, interviewed in Oropa by our Davide Bernardini.

2.27pm (-127 km): Today, as we reported to you in the morning, we had the second retirement of this Giro. Eddie Dunbar hasn’t left again, you can read HERE what happened to him.

The second hour of racing at the Giro begins!

2.23pm (-129 km): Pogacar is wearing a pink jersey and cyclamen shorts. His Colnago is beautiful with the pink inserts.

14.11 (-135 km): Today is a great opportunity for the fast wheels of the group! Italy hopes for Jonathan Milan and Alberto Dainese.

14.01 (-142 km): The average speed is rather low, less than 40 km/h.

1.52pm (-148 km): UAE Team Emirates in control, no brave attempts to attack.

1.46pm (-152 km): The route of this third stage does not whet the appetite of the attackers.

1.34pm (-160 km): There isn’t much brawl in today’s breakaway.

1.26pm (-166 km): Off we went!

1.15pm: The runners head towards kilometer zero.

13.05: The last start of the Giro d’Italia from Novara was in 2010, we arrived in Novi Ligure and Jerome Pineau won that stage.

12.55: And this is the points classification of the cyclamen jersey.

12.45: Let’s remember the general classification.

12.35: The start will be given at 1.25pm.

The live

We remain in Piedmont for the departure of the 3rd stage of the Tour of Italy 2024. The start will be given to Novara and after 166 kilometers the group will arrive at Fossanoin the province of Wedge, where we will most likely have to expect a compact sprint. Only one fourth category Mountain Grand Prix, that of Lu, 58 kilometers after the start.

The stage will be largely flat: the only GPM, in fact, is that of Lu, 4th category, placed over 100 km from the finish line. A few more ups and downs in the central part, with the intermediate sprint a Masio and the finish line of the Intergiro a Montegrosso d’Asti. In the finale we will go back up, with a small tear which will take runners to the intermediate sprint of Cherasco, located approximately 20 km from the finish line. Between -4.5 and -3, the road leans slightly go out (with a slope of 5%), while the last curve it is located approximately 1200 meters from the finish line. The long final straight it is ideal for launching a sprint: the stage should not escape the sprinters.

Today’s favorites at the Giro d’Italia

After two challenging days, today the fast men are expected to be protagonists, starting with ours Jonathan Milan (Lidl-Trek), who won the first sprint of the Giro last year in San Salvo. There will be no shortage of rivals, starting from Tim Merlier (Soudal Quick-Step), who has already won seven times this season. Despite yesterday’s fall, too Olav Kooij (Visma|Lease a Bike) should be of the lot, as well as Fabio Jakobsen (DSM), who in these first days tried to expend as little energy as possible. Also worth keeping an eye on Caleb Ewan (Jayco AlUla), Danny Van Poppel (Bora-hansgrohe) e Kaden Groves (Alpecin-Deceuninck), who we have seen in these first few days very active in the search for points for the cyclamen jersey. Among Italians, also not to be underestimated Alberto Dainese (Tudor), already winner of two stages at the Giro.