Elia Viviani, beaten into second place yesterday, timed his sprint to perfection today to win Stage 3 of the Giro d’Italia in Orbetello, Primoz Roglic of Jumbo-Visma retains his 19-second lead at the top of the general classification over Mitchelton-Scott’s Simon Yates, but after finding himself caught behind a crash with around 5 kilometres remaining, Team Ineos co-leader Tao Geoghegan Hart lost a minute and a half and drops out of the top 10 overall. Yesterday’s stage winner, Pascal Ackermann of Bora-Hansgrohe, was well-placed in the finishing straight following a tough and technical final, but mistimed his sprint and finished fourth. Instead it was Deceuninck-Quick Step's Viviani, in the colours of Italian national champion, beat Fernando Gaviria of UAE Team Emirates into second place with Groupama-FDJ's Arnaud Demare third. While yesterday’s second stage saw an eight-man breakaway, today’s 220-kilometre stage from Vinci saw a lone escapee, Nippo-Vini Fantini’s Sho Hatsuyama. The Japanese rider attacked early on and, despite no-one else going with him, decided to go it alone and would eventually spend 144 kilometres on his own. A nervous finale with an exposed final 10 kilometres and strong winds saw several crashes, involving the British Deceuninck-Quick Step rider, James Knox. That crash resulted in a split in the peloton, and happening as it did around 5 kilometres out meant the riders who were on the wrong side of it lost time – including Geoghegan Hart, who had crashed earlier in the stage and lost around a minute and a half by the time he crossed the line. Stage winner Fernando Gaviria “It is how it is. The winner is who is the first one on the road. With curves like these at the end, it’s impossible for sprinters not to touch each other. Elia won today and he deserves to be the winner. "I sent him a message after I was declared the winner. Personally, I felt better legs than yesterday. My condition is good. I just miss some racing days and I hope to really win a stage in the eight coming days. "The level of the sprinters is very high this year. It was also a strange stage today. There wasn’t as much wind as we expected and no team wanted to take the lead too early because of the head wind at the very end.” Elia Viviani, relegated after crossing the line first “I am completely disappointed by this decision. Yesterday I made a mistake in the final and today was focused on doing my best. As you could see all the other sprinters crossed the line behind me. "The team did an amazing job and I am extremely proud of them. There was a strong headwind, so that’s why I started my sprint late. "I was really happy to have taken the win, but then this decision came and all I can do now is focus on the next sprint I and take this jersey to the top of a stage classification” Maglia Rosa, Primoz Roglic “We didn’t bother about the sprint. We just did our job and finish safely in the bunch. It was an easy stage. It was a long day with some wind but it finished well for us. I haven’t checked what it’ll be like tomorrow. I take it day by day. For sure the last week of the Giro will be tough and decisive. So far so good for me. I hope to stay healthy.”<doc-sep>Fernando Gaviria (UAE Team Emirates) was awarded the stage three victory of the Giro d'Italia 2019 after Elia Viviani (Deceuninck - Quick-Step) was relegated after coming across Matteo Moschetti (Trek-Segafredo) in the sprint finish. Arnaud Démare (Groupama-FDJ) finished second with Pascal Ackermann (Bora-Hansgrohe) third. Ackermann went early once again, with the Italian champion sitting on his wheel before launching his sprint in windy conditions. Moschetti appeared to not complain as he came across the finish line, as Gaviria high-fived Viviani to congratulate him on the wind. However, the Giro d'Italia tweeted soon after the finish: "The jury watched the video footage of the sprint and have decided to relegate Elia Viviani. The winner is Fernando Gaviria". The sprint finish of stage three of the 2019 Giro d'Italia (Photo: Yuzuru Sunada) (Image credit: Yuzuru SUNADA) Tao Geoghegan Hart was held up by a crash in the final 5km, which saw fellow Brit James Knox (Deceuninck - Quick-Step) hit the deck, with the Team Ineos man rolling across the line 1-31 down on the bunch accompanied by his team-mates. He now finds himself in 57th place overall, 2-03 down on Primož Roglič, who will keep his pink jersey for a third consecutive day. Laurens de Plus (Lotto-Soudal), who alongside Geoghegan Hart was in the top ten on GC, 35 seconds down on Roglič at the start of the day, finished in 159th place on stage three, crossing the line more than 15 minutes after Gaviria. The Belgian now finds himself in 161st place on GC, 15-54 down. Stage four should provide another day that is unlikely to see a big shake-up on GC, but should provide an unpredictable winner with the finish line up a small incline. How it happened Stage three threw up another opportunity for the sprinters, after Pascal Ackermann won the opening duel of the fast men on stage two, with only two intermediate sprints and a fourth category climb to keep the peloton entertained along the 220km stretch of road from Vinci to Orbetello. Profile map of stage three of the Giro d'Italia 2019 In what was either an incident of incompetence or cruelty, only one rider made the day's break. Sho Hatsuyama (Nippo Vini Fantini) making his Grand Tour debut went it alone, the Japanese rider being the sole representative of his nation in this year's race after his countryman Hiroki Nishimura finished outside the time limit on the stage one 8km time trial. Hatsuyama, who opened up a maximum gap of nearly five minutes during his day out front, went across the first intermediate sprint point first, with Arnaud Démare then taking the peloton across. With 78km to go, Hatsuyama's gap was plummeting, with the pace in the peloton going up and causing a temporary split, which brought the 30-year-old's advantage down from 1-30 to just 30 seconds after another 2km of racing. Within another kilometre he had sat up and was promptly caught, having spent nearly 145km off the front. Nervousness seemed to grip the peloton as they approached the second intermediate sprint, with Bora-Hansgrohe bringing Pascal Ackermann up to the front and Caleb Ewan (Lotto-Soudal) also moving up. However, it all quietened down just before the line, with Arnaud Démare going across first to take maximum points this time around, meaning he now has the lead in the sprint classification, with a four point lead over second-placed Michael Schwarzmann (Bora-Hansgrohe). With just under 50km left to race, the television moto panned to Team Ineos' Tao Geoghegan Hart back in the team cars, a bloodied knee divulging he had fallen on the course, but the Brit made his way back into the pack without incident. Blue jersey holder Giulio Ciccone (Trek-Segafredo) came to the front for the solitary categorised climb of the day, the fourth category Poggio l'Apparita, to claim the maximum climbing points on offer to extend his lead in the king of the mountains to 18 points over François Bidard (Ag2r La Mondiale). The sprinters' teams started forming their trains at the front of the peloton as they passed under the 10km banner, looking to protect their favourites for the win as they headed towards a technical finish in high winds. Suddenly, Movistar dropped off the back as Richard Carapaz suffered a mechanical, with Antonio Pedrero sacrificing his bike so the Spanish team could try and time-trial their highest placed rider on GC back to the bunch as they sped towards the finish line. With 5km to go, a crash brought down James Knox (Deceuninck - Quick-Step) as well as Enrico Battaglin (Katusha-Alpecin), with many riders including Tao Geoghegan Hart being held up, the Brit eventually finishing 1-31 behind and losing his top 10 spot on GC. UAE Team Emirates and Groupama-FDJ headed up the bunch on the run-in to the finish, with riders stringing out behind, desperately clinging on despite the ferocious pace that was being set. After Pascal Ackermann launched his sprint early once again, Viviani chose the German's wheel earlier than yesterday, meaning he could eventually come round the German to cross the finish line first. A few minutes after the finish, news broke that the Italian champion had been relegated by the race jury after it was deemed he had impeded Matteo Moschetti in the finish. The Trek-Segafredo rider, however, didn't appear have any complaint as he came across the line as seen in television replays. This meant that Fernando Gaviria, who congratulated Viviani across the finish line, was promoted to first place, with Arnaud Démare taking second and Pascal Ackermann taking third. Stage four provides another day of racing that is unlikely to trouble the race lead of Primož Roglič, although the uphill finish should provide an unpredictable run-in. Primoz Roglic on the podium after stage three of the Giro d'Italia 2019 (Photo by Justin Setterfield/Getty Images) (Image credit: Getty Images) Results Giro d’Italia 2019, stage three: Vinci to Orbetello (220km) 1. Fernando Gaviria (Col) UAE Team Emirates, in 5-23-19 2. Arnaud Démare (Fra) Groupama-FDJ 3. Pascal Ackermann (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe 4. Matteo Moschetti (Ita) Trek-Segafredo 5. Giacomo Nizzolo (Ita) Dimension Data 6. Jakub Mareczko (Ita) CCC 7. Davide Cimolai (Ita) Israel Cycling Academy 8. Manuel Belletti (Ita) Androni Giocattoli - Sidermic 9. Christian Knees (Ger) Team Ineos 10. Sacha Modolo (Ita) EF Education First, all at same time General classification after stage three 1. Primož Roglič (Slo) Jumbo-Visma, in 10-21-01 2. Simon Yates (GBr) Mitchelton-Scott, at 19 seconds 3. Vincenzo Nibali (Ita) Bahrain-Merida, at 23s 4. Miguel Ángel López (Col) Astana, at 28s 5. Tom Dumoulin (Ned) Sunweb, at same time 6. Rafał Majka (Pol) Bora-Hansgrohe, at 33s 7. Bauke Mollema (Ned) Trek-Segafredo, at 39s 8. Damiano Caruso (Ita) Bahrain-Merida, at 40s 9. Pello Bilbao (Esp) Astana, at 42s 10. Víctor de la Parte (Esp) CCC, at 45s<doc-sep>Colombia’s Gaviria was awarded Stage 3 following the relegation of initial winner Viviani as Slovenia’s Primoz Roglic retained the pink jersey and Britain’s Tao Geoghegan Hart plunged out of the top 10. Viviani discusses win before hearing of disqualification Giro d'Italia Re-Cycle: Andy Hampsten defies Gavia snow storm to take pink in 1988 27/05/2019 AT 14:35 Italian national champion Viviani (Deceuninck-QuickStep) looked to have won the chaotic bunch sprint in the Tuscan coastal town of Orbetello ahead of Gaviria (UAE Team Emirates) and Frenchman Arnaud Demare (Groupama-FDJ). But replays showed Viviani veering violently to the left in the home straight to close the door on compatriot Matteo Moschetti of Trek-Segafredo, who avoided a nasty fall en route to a fifth place finish, which was eventually upgraded to fourth. When asked if he felt like the Stage 3 winner, Gaviria replied: “No. Today I arrived second. The winner of the stage is Viviani. He’s a really good guy, really strong sprinter, and this part of his career is really incredible because he always tries to do everything good. “I’m disappointed for Elia because he’s a really good friend to me, and the winner of the third stage of the Giro.” Coming up: Stage 4 The 235km stage from Orbetello to Frascati plays out over rolling roads but only includes one lower-category climb early on. It looks to be one for the puncheurs with a short and sharp ramp to the line.<doc-sep>
Elia Viviani was stripped of victory as stage three of the Giro d’Italia ended in a chaotic sprint in Orbetello. Deceuninck-QuickStep’s Viviani crossed the line first at the end of the 219km stage from Vinci and looked to have taken victory but the Italian national champion was relegated for changing his line and blocking Trek-Segafredo’s Matteo Moschetti. He was placed 73rd, at the back of the first group of finishers. That elevated Team UAE Emirates’ Fernando Gaviria to victory with Groupama-FDJ’s Arnaud Démare second. It was a messy end to a stage which was taken at a relatively easy pace. After a late crash had split the peloton in two a chicane in the final kilometre uncoupled the sprint trains and left the leading contenders to battle it out for themselves. The stage two winner, Pascal Ackermann, launched his attack first but had gone too soon, with Viviani, Gaviria and Démare coming round the Bora-Hansgrohe rider in the final metres. But Viviani had veered strongly left, forcing Moschetti to sit up and stop his sprint. The crash with five kilometres left shook up the general classification, too, with Team Ineos’ Tao Geoghegan Hart the big loser. The Londoner began the day 35 seconds off Primoz Roglic in pink but, having chased back on to the group with a bloodied knee following a crash around 50km out, was held up by the incident and lost 91 seconds. The Lancastrian Simon Yates remains second overall, with the Mitchelton-Scott man 19 seconds behind Team Jumbo-Visma’s Roglic. The chaotic finish came at the end of a long day for the peloton. With this the second of three stages of more than 200km to start the Giro following the opening time trial, the pace was considerably down and only one rider, Nippo-Vini Fantini-Faizane’s Sho Hatsuyama, was moved to go clear of the pack. The Japanese rider spent 144 lonely kilometres out in front before the peloton, upping the pace as the threat of crosswinds increased, brought him back. With 75km left other riders might normally have been tempted to go but instead the peloton remained bunched together, nervously tackling the exposed roads. The pace was up again heading towards the intermediate sprint in Grosseto and it was then that Hart hit the deck. With the riders having taken it easy for so long early in the day they had plenty of energy to burn late on, contributing to a wild finish.