Giro d'Italia: Kittel wins stage 3

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Marcel Kittel won his second consecutive stage at the Giro d’Italia and in just as convincing fashion as he took the first. Set up perfectly by his Etixx-Quick Step teammates coming into Arnhem, Kittel opened up his sprint from 200 metres out, almost instantly getting a huge gap on the sprinters lined up in his wake. He was several bike lengths clear of Sky’s Elia Viviani and already celebrating as he crossed the line, with Trek-Segafredo’s Giacomo Nizzolo in third.

The 10 bonus seconds Kittel earned for his stage win put him into the race leader’s maglia rosa, making him the first German since Olaf Pollack in 2006 to lead the Giro. Kittel now heads Tom Dumoulin (Giant-Alpecin) by nine seconds, with Movistar’s Andrey Amador in third at 15 seconds after LottoNL-Jumbo’s Primoz Roglic slipped down the standings.

For a time, it seemed that Kittel might be thwarted by an heroic solo effort on the part of Dimension Data’s Johann Van Zyl. One of a quartet of riders who broke away at the very start of the stage, Van Zyl hit out on his own with 12 kilometres remaining. His lead at that point was the best part of a minute and it took a concerted effort by Etixx to reel him in with just 1.7km to the line.

Having done most of the hard work in chasing down Van Zyl, Etixx suddenly found themselves with plenty of company at the front of the bunch. However, they kept Kittel exactly where he needed to be. Leadout man Fabio Sabatini set a scorching pace from 600 metres out, and when the Italian started to fade Kittel made his move.

"I’m super happy with this victory, which is my fourth stage win at the Giro, and I’ve also got leader’s jersey as well. I’m very happy to be able to say that I’ve worn the yellow jersey at the Tour de France and now the pink jersey at the Giro d’Italia, which is something quite unique," said Kittel.

"It was a super tough day, with lots of wind, which made it difficult to stay in position. The breakaway also got a big gap. But the boys did an amazing job of keeping me out of trouble and then getting Matteo Trentin, Fabio Sabatini and me into position for the sprint. Matteo and Fabio also did an amazing job, and that made it easier for me."

More on this story

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• Jean-Christophe Peraud crashes out of the Giro d'Italia
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• Fractured finger forces BMC's Dillier to abandon - Giro d'Italia News Shorts

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How it unfolded

The break of the day went as soon as the flag dropped to get racing under way. LottoNL-Jumbo’s Maarten Tjallingii instigated it, and the Dutchman was quickly joined by Van Zyl, Julen Amezqueta (Southeast-Venezuela) and a familiar face in Giacomo Berlato (Nippo-Vini Fantini), who had spent stage two in the break with Tjallingii. Their lead reached a maximum of eight minutes with 140km to the finish as Etixx and Giant set the pace on the front of the peloton.

For the first half of the stage, the most noteworthy aspect was the immense size of the crowds. But the focus turned back to the racing when it became clear that the wind was getting up. This brought all of the GC teams to the front of the bunch, and with dramatic consequences for AG2R. Setting the pace in the bunch around one side of a roundabout, their lead man slipped down in front of Giro debutant and GC hopeful Jean-Christophe Péraud.

With next to no time to react, the French veteran hit the road face first. Thankfully, he did get back to his feet relatively quickly, but the cuts he sustained to his face were severe enough to force him out of the race.

As he did on two occasions on stage two, Tjallingii led through the intermediate sprint. Soon after, the chase behind quickened considerably as the peloton once again found itself being buffeted by a cross-wind. As the action suddenly got frantic, several riders went down and the main group split into several sections.

While Lotto-Soudal and Tinkoff powered away on the front of the first group, a second large group formed 30 seconds behind. However, as the wind eased, the two groups merged. The net result was that the breakaway quartet lost two minutes of their advantage, which was down to three minutes entering the final 60km.

Tjallingii’s reward for his second consecutive day in the break was the King of the Mountains jersey, which the Dutch veteran secured when he led over the only climb of the day. As the peloton passed a couple of minutes later, Arnaud Demare hit the deck and had to be helped back to the bunch by two of his teammates.

When the four escapees went through the line for the first time at the start of two laps of the finishing circuit, their lead was 2-27. But as Etixx-Quick Step took up the running on the front of the bunch, that advantage soon began to dwindle. The wind came into play again too, forcing splits towards the back of the peloton.

The peloton was 1-11 in arrears entering the final 13-kilometre lap. Aware it was closing, Van Zyl decided to hit out on his own with 12km remaining. A crash near the back of the bunch caused another big split and this time there was no way back to the maglia rosa group for those caught out.

After Van Zyl’s brilliant effort was neutralized just 1,700 metres from home, Etixx set about the last phase of their day’s task, which culminated in Kittel’s win and the German capturing the maglia rosa as the prepares to transfer to Italy on Monday.

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