2023-05-08 22:03:00
The sun has left the Giro and under a cloudy sky, two riders from the Italian team Corratec – Selle Italia dominated the 3rd stage for a long time.
Veljko Stojnic and Alexander Konychev were in the lead for 177 kilometers and were hopelessly lost.
When they went into the hills around the destination of Melfi with just under an hour to go before the end of the race, they were caught, so that Michael Matthews finally won in the sprint of a decimated first field for Jayco – AlUla.
Tour of Italy
Giro route: profile of the 4th stage – mini mountain arrival at Lago Laceno
3 HOURS AGO
Three things that stood out.
1.) Jayco pulls Pedersen’s tooth
Looking at the route profile of this 3rd stage of the Giro, it was already clear what was going to happen: the teams of the more mountainous sprinters had to step on the gas 40 kilometers before the finish line to finish the race on the two climbs of the 3rd and 4th category on the loop south from the destination Melfi as hard as possible and outperform the pure flatland experts.
That’s exactly what Trek – Segafredo and Jayco – AlUla did for their captains Mads Pedersen and Michael Matthews. First the men in red and white were in front, then those in blue and white – or their man in green, red and white, namely the Italian champion Filippo Zana. His pace was too fast for most sprint specialists – and in the end even for Matthews’ arguably toughest opponent on days like this, Pedersen.
After the climbs, the Dane had to chase after the first field with his teammates for a while to be able to sprint. It is quite possible that he finally lacked exactly these grains on the home stretch to beat Matthews. The Australian rightly celebrated his team’s performance, because Jayco had obviously found exactly the right pace to hurt everyone else more than their own sprint ace.
It will be interesting to see whether Trek – Segafredo will work just as vehemently with Jayco – AlUla on the next hilly stages – now that it has become clear that Matthews is more mountainous than Pedersen.
Eisel analyzes Matthews victory: “Jayco did everything right”
2.) Almeida is lucky in misfortune
A little over 15 kilometers from the finish, Joao Almeida (UAE Team Emirates) suddenly found himself on the road in a left-hand bend in the middle of the first field. The Portuguese champion couldn’t avoid it when Mads Würtz Schmidt (Israel – Premier Tech) went down in front of him and also fell on the wet road.
A bitter moment for the co-favorite for the Giro victory, but fortunately Brandon McNulty was waiting for him immediately and quickly brought Almeida, who initially rolled around the corners like eggs on eggs after the moment of shock, back into the group of favorites.
It was important that Almeida jumped up again immediately after his fall and continued. But it was also important that his bike was not damaged in this situation. Because of the small gaps of less than a minute between the first groups at that time, the UAE escort vehicle was not directly behind him, but far away.
Almeida, who escaped with minor abrasions, lost no time at the stage finish – with a little more bad luck in the crash he could easily have lost a minute this Monday.
Incidentally, Sepp Kuss was also lucky in disguise. The American from Jumbo – Visma still has ten fingers on his hands despite this action:
Do not try this! Kiss loses the battery and risks his fingers
3.) Pinot might have a secondary goal: the mountain jersey
When Thibaut Pinot finished second to Adam Yates at the top of the Tour de Romandie in Thyon 2,000 about ten days ago, some of his fans must have been dreaming of Pinot’s greatest days again. The hope of a possible Giro podium for the French germinated.
But the 32-year-old, who will end his career at the end of the season, should be aware that it will be very, very difficult against the younger generation of tour and climbing aces.
On the way to Melfi, Pinot indicated that he might be aiming for something completely different at this Giro: Pinot bravely won the two mountain prizes of the day and thus took the lead in the fight for the Maglia Azzurra, the jersey of the best climber.
Even if he then emphasized that the special classification was not his primary goal and that he was driving towards the overall classification, collecting points over the next three weeks could actually be a very worthwhile activity for him.
The attacking style of driving it takes to win this jersey would surely please Pinot’s fans just as much as a podium finish for the Frenchman in Rome.
All 21 stages of the Giro d’Italia – the route at a glance
Tour of Italy
Giro preview, stage 4: mini mountain arrival at Lago Laceno
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Highlights: Sprint feat! Matthews completes strong teamwork
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