Magnier doubles up with narrow sprint win on Giro stage 3

Paul Magnier (Soudal Quick-Step) won stage 3 of the Giro d’Italia, beating Jonathan Milan (Lidl-Trek) and Dylan Groenewegen (Unibet Rose Rockets) in a breathless bunch sprint in Sofia. 

Milan led into the final bend with 150m to go, but Magnier timed his effort perfectly to come past the Italian on the cobbled finishing straight to take his second victory of this Giro.

Guillermo Thomas Silva (XDS-Astana) finished safely in the peloton to remain the maglia rosa ahead of the Giro’s return to Italy on Monday.

The terrain lent itself to a bunch sprint on the Giro’s final day in Bulgaria and the fast men would not be denied on the flat and fast run-in to Sofia, even if the break of the day would stay off the front until they had reached the streets of the capital.

The Polti duo of Diego Pablo Sevilla and Alessandro Tonelli had Manuele Tarozzi (Bardiani CSF 7 Saber) for company off the front all day, and they would only be swept up by the bunch with 400m to go.

The third and final leg of the Giro’s Bulgarian sojourn began in the striking city of Plovdiv, built on seven hills along the banks of the river Maritsa. The other city of seven hills is still a long way off, of course, and the day began with news that Adam Yates (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) had joined the list of abandons following the mass crash in the finale of stage 2.

The break drifted clear almost as soon as the stage began and it had a familiar look with blue jersey Diego Pablo Sevilla joined by Polti VisitMalta teammate Alessandro Tonelli and Manuele Tarozzi (Bardiani CSF 7 Saber).

The XDS-Astana team of maglia rosa Guillermo Thomas Silva was happy to give them some leeway, and the trio quickly established a three-minute lead as the road rose steadily towards the day’s lone climb, the Borovets Pass.

That ascent would produce the main early drama, with Arnaud De Lie distanced as he continues to suffer from the effects of the illness he picked up in his victory at last week’s Famenne Ardenne Classic.

Visma’s Victor Campenaerts tried to give some succour to his old teammate before he was dropped, while Lotto Intermarché’s Jonas Rutsch and Joshua Giddings succeeded in pacing him back to the peloton over the other side.

The road dropped gently on the final 70km into Sofia, and the break’s advantage dropped accordingly, and their lead was down to just 40 seconds by the time they reached the final 40km.

Despite the approaching Red Bull sprint, Tudor opted against bolstering the chase to aid Florian Stork’s pink jersey prospects, and the escapees would stretch their lead out enough to stay out in front and mop up the bonus seconds on offer.

With 12km remaining, however, the peloton was closing in rapidly and the bunch sprint was inevitable.