Giro d'Italia: Gaviria rides into pink after crosswinds blow peloton to pieces on stage 3

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Fernando Gaviria (Quick-Step Floors) won a windswept sprint out of a small group to win stage 3 of the Giro d'Italia. Rüdiger Selig (Bora-Hansgrohe) and Giacomo Nizzolo (Trek-Segafredo) rounded out the top three. The win also propelled Gaviria into the pink jersey, putting him nine seconds ahead of Lotto Soudal's André Greipel, who began the day in the lead.

The wind played its expected role in the finale. Bob Jungels (Quick-Step Floors) was the one to break the field, with roughly 10 kilometres to go. 11 riders made the break and stayed away, with five of them holding together to contest the sprint in Cagliari. Gaviria won convincingly. The main peloton, with Greipel in amongst the bunch, came across the line 13 seconds later.

Most of the top GC contenders, including Nairo Quintana (Movistar), Vincenzo Nibali (Astana), Steven Kruijswijk (LottoNL-Jumbo) and Geraint Thomas (Sky), finished safely in the 13-second group. BMC's Rohan Dennis wasn't as fortunate, losing over five minutes after a late crash.

How it unfolded

Sunday's third stage ran 148km, from Tortolì to Cagliari on a lightly rolling course, but with good chances for strong winds.

A break group of four got away very early: Jan Tratnik (CCC Sprandi Polkowice), Ivan Rovny (Gazprom – Rusvelo), Kristian Sbaragli (Dimension Data) and Eugert Zhupa (Wilier Triestina). The field allowed them to go but the gap never got much over three minutes.

Lotto Soudal, with race-leading Greipel in its ranks, controlled things from behind, keeping the gap within limits. Both Sky and Movistar stayed near the front, too. Everyone was heedful of the wind and the problems it might cause.

Sbaragli only stayed in the break group a short time, until the first intermediate sprint with some 112 kilometres left. He took those points and then sat up. It was a clever move by Dimension Data, as Zhupa was second in the sprints competition behind Sbaragli’s teammate Daniel Teklehaimanot.

With around 100 kilometres left to race, more GC and sprinter teams could be seen up front. The gap dropped to just over two minutes, and gradually started going down even more.

Some 50 kilometres later, the second intermediate sprint was held. While the three leaders took the top points, Dimension Data's Sbaragli and Nathan Haas jumped from the pack to take the final points available.

Shortly thereafter, the race course changed to riding directly along the shore line, heading into the heavy wind. The riders then arrived at the day's only ranked climb, the Cat. 3 Capo Boi. The three leaders rode calmly over the line, but the wind was starting to make itself noticeable.

Katusha-Alpecin's Ilnur Zakarin, who lost 20 seconds on stage 2, once again suffered a mechanical and had to have his team pull him back up to the front – an expense of nerves and energy.

As the peloton came within a few seconds of the break group with 30 kilometres to go, Tratnik took off in an effort to stay away. His effort was in vain, as the field swallowed him up as well.

With 20 kilometres to go, the GC teams moved up to the front, nervous about the wind and the possibilities of echelons and possible crashes. At 11 kilometres, a first echelon formed at the very front, but it was quickly pulled back, though a number of riders had fallen off the back of the field.

Jungels moved to the front of the pack and soon a leading group of a dozen or so had suddenly pulled away. Greipel was near the front group but couldn't close the gap, and then came out of his pedal. Alone, he decided to wait for the next group to try and move up together – but the gap kept getting bigger.

None of the big GC names were in the lead selection, and behind them the field was scattered in little groups.

With six riders in the front group, Quick-Step drove a hard tempo, logically doing all the lead work. The group broke up and re-formed a number of times, with Jungels consistently at the head of affairs.

The peloton was bearing down as they crossed under the final kilometre marker, but the gap was big enough for the leaders to contest the sprint amongst themselves. Haas was the first to jump, with Gaviria on his rear wheel. The Colombian then changed to the other side of the road and powered his way to the front, taking the win ahead of Selig and Nizzolo.

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