Results Giro d'Italia stage 3 - Paul Magnier does it again with ultra-fast sprint victory against Milan and Groenewegen

Stage 3 of the Giro d'Italia has given way to Soudal - Quick-Step once again. Paul Magnier has cemented his status as the race's strongest sprinter and has won his second stage at this year's edition in the Bulgarian capital of Sofia; beating Jonathan Milan and Dylan Groenewegen in a high-speed sprint.

The third and final day of racing in Bulgaria took the riders through a flat stage, starting in Plovdiv and finishing in the capital of Sofia. It was a day with one categorized climb in the Borovets Pass - 9.2 kilometers at 5.3% - halfway through the stage, but an ascent where the damage would be heavily dependent on the pace that was to be set in the peloton.

At the start of the 175-kilometer long day three riders went up the road, familiar faces over the Opening Weekend of the Corsa Rosa: Manuele Tarozzi of Bardiani; and the Polti duo of Alessandro Tonelli and KOM jersey leader Diego Pablo Sevilla. Christian Scaroni sprinted to fourth place on the day's sole climb, signalling his intentions to race for the KOM classification, whilst Guillermo Thomas Silva carried the pink jersey for the Astana team throughout the day.

The stage would be very calm all throughout, much like the two opening days - in which mass crashes unfortunately took a toll on the peloton however. The front trio paced their efforts to perfection, and did not go down without a fight. The acceleration into the final non-technical kilometers saw them survive out front all the way into the final kilometer.

Unibet Rose Rockets had the lead into the final meters, but it was Jonathan Milan who launched his sprint first. But from the wheel, Maglia Ciclamino Paul Magnier came through to take his second bunch sprint win of the Giro in impressive fashion.