Giro d'Italia: Matthews wins stage 3 in Sestri Levante

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Michael Matthews (Orica-GreenEdge) enjoyed his first day in the maglia rosa at this year’s Giro d'Italia with a win in Sestri Levante courtesy of a powerful late sprint.

The Australian finished ahead of Fabio Felline (Trek Factory Racing) and Philippe Gilbert (BMC Racing Team) after timing his sprint perfectly, and coming around the Trek rider with 150 metres to go, before unleashing an unbeatable sprint.

"It’s been a dream come true so far for this Giro d’Italia. We planned to get the team time trial win and this was another big goal for us. We reconned it last week and we knew what to expect so from then on we tried to do as best as we could and we pulled it off," Matthews said.

“It went right from the very start. A big breakaway went right away and we had two of our key climbers in the breakaway. That took a lot of pressure off the guys in the peloton so we could sit back and try to save as much energy as possible for the final. I had a really good rider in Simon Gerrans leading me out. When I saw this it was really special and I knew from there I just had to finish it off for the team.”

The win continues Orica-GreenEdge’s excellent start to the race after their win in the opening team time trial on Sunday in San Remo and brief spell in the pink jersey for Simon Gerrans.

The Australian WorldTour team enjoyed a similar experience last year with a strong start to the race and have become one of the most consistent teams in the opening week of Grand Tours.

Their win today was certainly up their with some of their best – a tactical masterclass of discipline and dedication that started long before the race left Rapallo with the team riding reconnaissance over the stage route before the Giro began.

Orica, it seems, are a team well aware of both their limitation and strengths, and after three days of racing they’ve already collected more than most rival squads will enjoy over the entire three weeks of racing.

Not that they managed today’s win entirely on their own. They once again had the help of Tinkoff-Saxo, who patrolled and controlled the peloton for most of the stage.

The Russian team moved towards the head of the race almost as soon as a large group broke clear in the opening kilometres.

Branislau Samoilau (CCC Sprandi), Adam Hansen (Lotto-Soudal), Tom Boonen (Etixx-QuickStep), Rubén Fernandez (Movistar), Cedric Pineau (FDJ), Nicola Boem (Bardiani-CSF), Maurilo Fischer (FDJ), Darwin Atapuma (BMC), Maciej Paterski (CCC Sprandi), Diego Ulissi (Lampre-Merida), Jesus Herrada (Movistar), Marcus Burghardt (BMC), Davide Villella (Cannondale), Manuele Boaro (Tinkoff-Saxo), Philippe Gilbert (BMC), Esteban Chaves (Orica-GreenEdge), Bert-Jan Lindeman (LottoNL-Jumbo), Edoardo Zardini (Bardiani-CSF), Chad Haga (Giant-Alpecin), Davide Malacarne (Astana), Axel Domont (AG2R-La Mondiale), Luca Chirico (Bardiani-CSF), Pavel Kochetkov (Katusha), Salvatore Puccio (Team Sky) and Gianfranco Zilioni (Androni-Giocattoli) made up the break with Matthews’ teammate Simon Clarke the closest to the pink jersey.

The quota was considerably too large to work together and with Alberto Contador’s team determined to drag the bunch towards the finish, the break understandably failed to generate a significant gap over the rolling and often beautiful terrain.

With 75 kilometres to go the gap held at just over a minute and Matthews sat pretty in pink as Tinkoff began to eliminate his sprint rivals; Tom Boonen, Andre Greipel and Luka Mezgec.

That all took place before the biggest test of the day, the Barbagelata, a second category climb with an average gradient of seven per cent.

The initial slopes quickly reduced the break to less than a dozen riders with Samoilau inflicting the majority of the damage on behalf of his teammate, Paterski. Tinkoff’s work continued to shed the weak but it was a surprise to see Richie Porte lose two of his closet lieutenants in Vassal Kiryienka and Sebastian Henao.

The peloton had the break at a mere 18 seconds before Kochetkov jumped clear and held off the chasers to claim the mountains jersey for his efforts. On the winding descent, the Katusha rider established a lead of 22 seconds on the remnants of the break with the bunch drifting back to a minute in arrears.

Hearts were in mouths when Domenico Pozzovivo (AG2R La Mondiale) crashed. The Italian was conscious but taken to hospital for checks, his full extent of his injuries unknown.

Back at the front of the race Adam Hansen, enjoying his 34th birthday and quite possibly his 340th straight Grand Tour, attacked from the break.

He dragged Paterski and Clarke with him, the latter unwilling to share the workload despite them quickly catching the lone leader with 10 kilometres to go.

At the front of the peloton Orica began to grow in confidence and numbers, a small platoon of their troops placing themselves among Contador’s cadre.

With the finish looming, the break, despite another late effort from Kochetkov, were doomed and Simon Gerrans laid the last of the groundwork for Matthews.

The young sprinter took a different line as his teammate hit the front with 500 metres to go but it paid off as he sailed over the top of Trek’s challenge to claim yet another day of celebrations for the Australian outfit.

Expert Analysis: Gianni Savio

A lot of people are asking me why the Tinkoff-Saxo team rode so aggressively during the stage to pull the break back when they didn’t have anyone to try to win the sprint. It’s a question for the Tinkoff-Saxo directeur sportif who decides the tactics but I think they did it to show just how strong they are, to put down the law in the peloton and to show that they have the rider who can win the Giro.

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