The
Giro d'Italia can be battled for seconds and
Remco Evenepoel is aware of it. On stage 3 he didn't try to go for the sprint but in a late intermediate sprint he made the effort to reinforce his lead, as he got through a tense day that saw a few crashes.
“We wanted to start the descent in the first positions, as the roads were slippery and treacherous. I saw the Jumbo-Visma riders in our wheel. It didn't take much extra energy to sprint for the seconds," Evenepoel explained at the end of the day. "If there are seconds, don't be afraid to grab them. I now take one second on Primoz and three seconds on the rest, which is good after an otherwise fairly easy stage. We are happy."
It was a low price to pay for a few more seconds of advantage over the competition. Additionally Filippo Ganna was dropped from the peloton and so the Belgian's lead to second place also extended - that now being João Almeida 32 seconds back. The World Champion made it through the first hilly day unscathed, evading the crashes that hit the peloton in the first two days racing as a peloton.
"I am very happy and satisfied with the level of my teammates. They are really on point from day one. That is very important in this Giro, because the most dangers of falling and such are here in the first week, especially with the bad weather here," Evenepoel concluded. "I knew it was a very tricky final. Those last corners here weren't easy either. It was not pleasant to take them at course speed, but it ended well.” He departs for an important day today up to Lago Laceno where attacks may surge from the GC riders.