Serpa seeks top-ten overall at Giro d'Italia

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José Serpa (Androni Giocattoli-C.I.P.I) finished third today at the end of an arduous stage 3 into Orvieto and moved into 10th overall at the Giro d'Italia. The 32-year-old Colombian hopes to finish the Giro d'Italia in the top-10 overall to better the 11th place he earned in 2009, his best showing in the Italian Grand Tour.

"It's been a hard stage today with a lot of crashes on the dirt roads, but I'm quite happy with my third place here," Serpa told Cyclingnews as he was cooling down after the stage.

"This wasn't exactly a stage for Colombian riders," Serpa said. "Maybe it was because of the uphill finish but the dirt roads aren't exactly for us. We couldn't catch Pieter Weening at the front, but Fabio Duarte and I were pretty strong at the end. This might be a good indication for the coming stages when we'll have bigger climbs.

"My initial goal as I came to the Giro was to get a good overall ranking," the winner of the 2009 Le Tour de Langkawi said. "We'll see how it goes. If for some reason the GC falls apart for me, I'll try and win a mountain stage. There are many of them this year, so it makes it very motivating for a rider like me."

A winner at this year's Giro del Friuli and stage 2 of Tour de San Luis, Serpa, nicknamed "El Leon de Bucaramanga", renewed his contract with the Androni Giocattoli-C.I.P.I. team on Monday evening for one more season. 2012 will be his seventh year with the team directed by Gianni Savio.