Vincenzo Albanese brings profit from hard day out: This third place is really good for me

Today's stage was marked by the battle between Biniam Girmay and Mathieu van der Poel in the final kilometers, however behind them at the finish line crossed another man who was happy with the outcome of the day: Vincenzo Albanese.

“A beautiful stage, really challenging. The first part was easier with that breakaway of three riders with Van Der Poel and Girmay’s teams controlling from behind, the second part quite eventful and at the end there were 30 riders left," Albanese said at the end of the stage. Without the responsibility but with the quality to feature in such a day, the 25-year old found himself in a good position as he went over the explosive final hilltop of the stage within the GC group, without the need to be closing down moves as both Mathieu van der Poel and Biniam Girmay did.

"I was there, I knew I was among the fastest because it was made a hard race just to eliminate the pure sprinters," he said. EOLO-Kometa are currently in the lead of the KOM classification with Diego Rosa, but they have taken another strong result today as Albanese managed to sprint to third place.

He detailed how it went: "In the sprint, Girmay and Van Der Poel are stronger than me, and in the end I brought home this third place which is really good for me," he said. Despite far, from the win, a third place comes as another confirmation of the Italian's talent and it put the ProTeam on the spotlight. In the coming days there will be more opportunities for Albanese to succeed as he should be well suited to the hilly profiles.