OFFICIAL Stage 3 Results: Yates ABANDONS!
Laurens De Jong
Hello, Giro d’Italia Gamers!
STAGE Grade: B-
I rate today’s stage a B-. It was a sprint stage, pure and simple. A fantastic sprint, but that alone doesn’t carry an entire stage. I saw only two memorable moments besides that final sprint: the intermediate sprint being contested by Jonathan Milan; and the peloton catching the breakaway. Five minutes of interesting cycling. A B- is generous.
Route: 2/5 GC: 1/5 Tactics: 1/5 Sprint: 5/5 Surprises: 1/5
As a youth and juniors coach, one of the more common misconceptions I clear up with parents is that a bicycle race is decided by going fast on a bike. As we know, this is patently untrue. If it were true, then the typical breakaway we see every day wouldn’t exist. Those riders aren’t out there because, by going faster than the others, they think they can win the race. They are there for other reasons.
We all know that. No problem. We know that the peloton can make up 12 seconds per kilometer. Three riders were in the breakaway. For 174 kilometers, Diego Pablo Sevilla, Manuele Tarozzi, and Alessandro Tonelli were ahead. I don’t think they were going faster than the others, but they worked harder for it. After one hour, I saw that Sevilla had averaged 240 watts. In the peloton, Jonathan Milan had been doing 170.
Milan is a big guy. The fact that he spent 70 watts less to move his mass at the same speed as Sevilla up ahead tells the story of a race like this. The breakaway works hard, but they’re always caught. Always, even today.
But it was close. I was pretty sure the peloton would catch them, but between the 3 km banner and the 2 km banner, the gap didn’t get smaller. The peloton was there, but they waited. Then 1,900 meters to go, 1,800 meters to go, 1,700 meters to go. You get the idea — the peloton waited.
At about 1,500 meters to go, Soudal – Quick-Step put the hammer down and sealed the fate of the three breakaway riders.
They were tired, those three. For Sevilla, it was three days straight in the breakaway. Doing 240 watts per hour. The life of a pro cyclist in a small Italian team. I sometimes wonder why others don’t join the breakaway. The answer: it’s hard work, being in the breakaway.
The peloton caught the breakaway at, what, 500 meters? Soon after that, the bike race developed into a contest of who could ride a bicycle the fastest. Milan, Paul Magnier, or Dylan Groenewegen? The fastest sprinters in the 2026 Giro d’Italia and we saw them going at it. Pure, unadulterated speed. Magnier won, he was the fastest.
Except, no. Put the sprint under the microscope and you see that Milan was faster than Magnier, and Groenewegen was faster than Milan. What happened?
Milan was faster, but his bike bounced all over those cobblestones. Watts spent when your rear wheel is in the air don’t count. He needed 5 or 10 pounds less air pressure. Easy for me to spot from my desk. I have no idea if the pro teams calculate those things. But it cost him the race. Magnier was stuck to the cobblestones and all of his watts counted.
Groenewegen had only himself to blame. Waited too long and had to react to Magnier’s launch. He tried to get around Magnier and he was in fact faster. But he was too far behind, his bike throw was too soon, and the fastest rider in the sprint finished third.
A bike race isn’t about going fast on a bike. Another rider who came to that conclusion was Ryan Mullen. The Irishman. Lidl-Trek had decided that Jonathan Milan needed the 3 points at the intermediate sprint. They came here to win the Maglia Ciclamino. Every point matters. They sent Milan up ahead along with Max Walscheid, to protect the final point. Every point matters, it’s better for Walscheid to have that point than Magnier.
To my disbelief, it was Mullen who countered Milan and Walscheid. I 100% believe he didn’t realize this was an intermediate sprint attack, and not a “let’s leave the peloton to win the stage” attack. After Mullen joined Walscheid, they talked a little, and Mullen soft-pedaled the rest of the way. After the sprint, you could see Walscheid and Mullen laughing and talking to each other. Milan pretended to push Mullen. Fun times. It’s a bike race, you don’t have to go fast on a bike. That’s not what this is all about.
I still don’t completely understand why nobody is contesting the Maglia Azzurra. Your team always looks better on a leaders’ jersey. Plus your team is on the podium every day. But today’s breakaway was predictable in the sense that Diego Pablo Sevilla and Manuele Tarozzi were there. Sevilla for the KOM points, Tarozzi for the traguardo volante and Red Bull KM points. Same scenario as yesterday, when Tarozzi was missing. I didn’t understand that yesterday and even less today: today’s stage was more likely to catch the breakaway before the Red Bull KM than yesterday’s. But I know very little, I was wrong yesterday and I was wrong today.
Sevilla was still with the team car, 600 meters before the official start. The TV showed him pedaling to the back of the peloton and then overtaking everyone. Just in time, at kilometer 0 he was alongside the official’s car. Stefano Allocchio, the race director, waved the green flag and off went Sevilla; joined by Alessandro Tonelli, also Polti-VisitMalta, and Tarozzi.
The breakaway did what they had planned, and almost a little better. Who would have won that three-up sprint? It would have been memorable. Sevilla has never won a pro cycling race, the other two haven’t won since 2024.
But okay, they were caught, and the Polti-VisitMalta team bosses were satisfied. Total prize money is now over 12,000 euros. And three days in the Maglia Azzurra. Yes, they are satisfied.
Watch the final kilometers HERE (worth it!).
Watch the five-minute highlights HERE.
Read the TNT Sports report HERE.
As expected, Adam Yates did not appear at the start today. A “delayed concussion” sent him home. A delayed concussion? I want to ask questions. I won’t, but I want to.
Team Tadej had not selected Yates, so they are the big winner from Yates’ misfortune.
It was Team Amalia with the big win today. You can always count on that team to do well in the sprint stages. Their margin of victory was earned by Matteo Malucelli. I had never heard of this rider, and nobody else in the entire game (including adults) had picked him. But his fifth place (I had to look it up) was worth 22 points. Team Amalia moves into second.
Team Sam keeps doing well, second today is more than enough to remain in first place overall. Behind them, Team Ansel grabbed third place to make a move into fourth overall. They just barely beat Team Grace, who are now third.
Team Tadej scored enough points for fifth, which drops them into fifth overall as well.
Team Hugo in sixth and Team Charles in seventh missed the boat today. Team Felix missed the next boat as well — they were eighth today. Their positions in the standings did not change.
Monday is a rest day, as everyone moves from Bulgaria to the real point of this stage race: the most beautiful country in the world. Italy. The first stage in the Giro’s home country starts flat, then goes up a category 2 climb, and then remains hilly. The sprint teams could have difficulties keeping the peloton together. I don’t think an early breakaway would win, but something strange could happen in the final 20 kilometers.
But in reality, it has to be another Paul Magnier kind of day. Magnier, the winner of stage 4. Write it down, please.
Standings after stage 3:
|
Rank |
Name |
Points |
WAS |
MOVES |
|
1 |
Team Sam* |
407 |
1 |
0 |
|
2 |
Team Amalia* |
373 |
3 |
1 |
|
3 |
Team Grace* |
370 |
2 |
-1 |
|
4 |
Team Ansel* |
328 |
5 |
1 |
|
5 |
Team Tadej* |
321 |
3 |
-2 |
|
6 |
Team Hugo* |
228 |
6 |
0 |
|
7 |
Team Charles* |
205 |
7 |
0 |
|
8 |
Team Felix* |
129 |
8 |
0 |
Standings after stage 3 (including adults):
|
Rank |
Name |
Points |
WAS |
MOVES |
|
1 |
Team Craig |
432 |
1 |
0 |
|
2 |
Team Sam* |
407 |
2 |
0 |
|
3 |
Team Laurens |
396 |
3 |
0 |
|
4 |
Team Julie |
391 |
5 |
1 |
|
5 |
Team Zach |
376 |
6 |
1 |
|
6 |
Team Amalia* |
373 |
10 |
4 |
|
7 |
Team Grace* |
370 |
4 |
-3 |
|
8 |
Team Amelia |
347 |
7 |
-1 |
|
Team Corsa |
347 |
12 |
4 |
|
|
10 |
Team Ansel* |
328 |
13 |
3 |
|
11 |
Team Tadej* |
321 |
10 |
-1 |
|
12 |
Team Paul |
317 |
9 |
-3 |
|
13 |
Team Doug |
303 |
8 |
-5 |
|
14 |
Team Kent |
290 |
14 |
0 |
|
15 |
Team Jake |
262 |
15 |
0 |
|
16 |
Team Hugo* |
228 |
17 |
1 |
|
17 |
Team Adam |
210 |
16 |
-1 |
|
18 |
Team Charles* |
205 |
19 |
1 |
|
19 |
Team Rob |
204 |
21 |
2 |
|
20 |
Team Roslyn |
192 |
18 |
-2 |
|
21 |
Team Kate |
184 |
20 |
-1 |
|
22 |
Team Felix* |
129 |
22 |
0 |
|
23 |
Team Kari |
126 |
23 |
0 |
|
24 |
Team Jonwaine |
71 |
24 |
0 |
Complete breakdown of points from stage 3:
|
Name |
STAGE RESULTS |
PINK JERSEY |
PURPLE JERSEY |
BLUE JERSEY |
WHITE JERSEY |
POINTS/CLASS |
TOTAL |
PREVIOUS |
CUM. TOTAL |
|
Team Amalia* |
130 |
17 |
12 |
3 |
0 |
32 |
162 |
211 |
373 |
|
Team Ansel* |
91 |
23 |
9 |
3 |
0 |
35 |
126 |
202 |
328 |
|
Team Charles* |
58 |
15 |
4 |
3 |
0 |
22 |
80 |
125 |
205 |
|
Team Felix* |
2 |
8 |
0 |
3 |
0 |
11 |
13 |
116 |
129 |
|
Team Grace* |
91 |
21 |
9 |
3 |
0 |
33 |
124 |
246 |
370 |
|
Team Hugo* |
56 |
23 |
4 |
3 |
0 |
30 |
86 |
142 |
228 |
|
Team Sam* |
108 |
21 |
12 |
3 |
0 |
36 |
144 |
263 |
407 |
|
Team Tadej* |
100 |
0 |
7 |
3 |
0 |
10 |
110 |
211 |
321 |
Complete breakdown of points from stage 3 (including adults):
|
Team Adam |
30 |
21 |
4 |
3 |
0 |
28 |
58 |
152 |
210 |
|
Team Amalia* |
130 |
17 |
12 |
3 |
0 |
32 |
162 |
211 |
373 |
|
Team Amelia |
73 |
27 |
7 |
3 |
5 |
42 |
115 |
232 |
347 |
|
Team Ansel* |
91 |
23 |
9 |
3 |
0 |
35 |
126 |
202 |
328 |
|
Team Charles* |
58 |
15 |
4 |
3 |
0 |
22 |
80 |
125 |
205 |
|
Team Corsa |
110 |
21 |
9 |
3 |
0 |
33 |
143 |
204 |
347 |
|
Team Craig |
108 |
21 |
12 |
3 |
0 |
36 |
144 |
288 |
432 |
|
Team Doug |
47 |
23 |
7 |
3 |
0 |
33 |
80 |
223 |
303 |
|
Team Felix* |
2 |
8 |
0 |
3 |
0 |
11 |
13 |
116 |
129 |
|
Team Grace* |
91 |
21 |
9 |
3 |
0 |
33 |
124 |
246 |
370 |
|
Team Hugo* |
56 |
23 |
4 |
3 |
0 |
30 |
86 |
142 |
228 |
|
Team Jake |
56 |
21 |
4 |
3 |
4 |
32 |
88 |
174 |
262 |
|
Team Jonwaine |
11 |
8 |
0 |
3 |
0 |
11 |
22 |
49 |
71 |
|
Team Julie |
108 |
20 |
12 |
3 |
4 |
39 |
147 |
244 |
391 |
|
Team Kari |
36 |
16 |
0 |
3 |
0 |
19 |
55 |
71 |
126 |
|
Team Kate |
36 |
21 |
0 |
3 |
0 |
24 |
60 |
124 |
184 |
|
Team Kent |
73 |
17 |
7 |
3 |
0 |
27 |
100 |
190 |
290 |
|
Team Laurens |
108 |
22 |
12 |
3 |
4 |
41 |
149 |
247 |
396 |
|
Team Paul |
65 |
21 |
9 |
3 |
0 |
33 |
98 |
219 |
317 |
|
Team Rob |
56 |
23 |
4 |
3 |
0 |
30 |
86 |
118 |
204 |
|
Team Roslyn |
57 |
0 |
5 |
2 |
0 |
7 |
64 |
128 |
192 |
|
Team Sam* |
108 |
21 |
12 |
3 |
0 |
36 |
144 |
263 |
407 |
|
Team Tadej* |
100 |
0 |
7 |
3 |
0 |
10 |
110 |
211 |
321 |
|
Team Zach |
108 |
14 |
12 |
3 |
0 |
29 |
137 |
239 |
376 |
-Laurens.