Giro d’Italia Stage 3 LIVE – Cavendish hungry for the win in the first sprint stage of the race

80km to go: What chance Biniam Girmay?

You may have noticed that I didn’t mention him as one of the big favourites for this stage, despite how strongly he’s been sprinting this season. Although I do think there will be a stage win for the Eritrean somewhere in the next few weeks, but I just think this finish is too fast and too straightforward for him. Like Van der Poel, who I also didn’t mention, he needs something a little more challenging and technical. When he does win, however, it’s going to be spectacular.

90km to go: Three minutes of advantage for the break

Still nothing whatsoever for anyone to worry about. The race is approaching the town of Héviz, which is beside and named after the biggest biologically active thermal lake in the world. The peloton could probably stop for a spa treatment and still catch the breakers. They won’t, obviously, but they could.

100km to go: Who do we fancy for today?

There are plenty of riders who will be up for the cup in the first true sprint stage of this Giro d’Italia. Every rider and team wants to get one on the board early, as it takes a good deal of the pressure off for the rest of the race. There aren’t many opportunities for the fast men throughout the three weeks, which means they’re going to be especially hungry (pun intended) today.

Caleb Ewan (Lotto Soudal) might be a bit sore after his crash in the final metres of Friday’s stage one, but the fact that he was where he was, when he was there, tells you what kind of form he brought into the race.

The other biggest names are Israel-Premier Tech’s Giacomo Nizzolo, who finally broke his duck in this race after many years of trying, Arnaud Demare, Fernando Gaviria, and this guy:

110km to go: Anything to worry about today?

Well no, not really, but no race is ever completely without risks and dangers. Getting to the finish in one piece is the priority for most of these men, especially for the main contenders. The straight roads they’re on at the moment look a little greasy and we’re hearing reports of showers at the finish in Balatonfüred. Though the last ten kilometres are quite technical, it’s pretty much straight from the flamme rouge. The final 800m are slightly downhill, which means it’s going to be a very very fast finish.

Mathieu van der Poel’s numbers have just been shown on screen and his heart rate is currently hovering around 120bpm, roughly what most of us will hit on a walk to the shops.

121km to go: Into the woods

The trio’s gap is more or less as it was, around two minutes. They know as well as we do that today is going to come down to a bunch sprint and no-one, whether behind or anywhere else, wants to make them work too hard.

On Eurosport, Dan Lloyd has just explained how Rick Zabel of Israel Premier Tech has come to be wearing the King of the Mountains jersey. Apparently he rode a very gentle time trial right up to the climb, gave it full beans and that was that. He is still only joint leader with Mathieu van der Poel but obviously MVDP is in pink, which takes primacy over the blue polka dots.

131.5km to go: The race for ciclamino

The three riders are welcomed with a warm reception as they approach the line in Nagykanizsa. Tagliani is the one most invested in the points, going early and coming round Rivi. The Eolo Kometa rider makes a half-hearted effort to chase but quickly realises he’s beaten.

Behind in the bunch it’s Bardiani who take the initiative for Sacha Modolo. Caleb Ewan is not there so clearly isn’t interested – we know he intends to leave the race early anyway.

Fernando Gaviria (UAE Emirates) is the first of the jersey-hunters to push the pedals in anger and Arnaud Demare (Groupama FDJ) makes him ride all the way to the line but it’s the Colombian who claims the 5.

Biniam Girmay, wearing the jersey on behalf of classification leader Mathieu van der Poel, adds two to his tally. He is now 25 points behind the Dutchman.

135km to go – Whose Hungary?

Welcome to coverage of stage three of the Giro d’Italia 2022. It’s the final day in Hungary and we join the race just before the first intermediate sprint, with three riders up the road.

They are:

Day three context

The Giro d’Italia remains in Hungary for a third and final day for Stage 3 as the sprinters come to the fore as they battle for supremacy.

The 201km mostly flat stage from Kaposvar to Balatonfured is tailor made for the fast finishers with Mark Cavendish and Caleb Ewan among the favourites.

Mathieu van der Poel took Stage 1 and retained the maglia rosa after Stage 2 by finishing second in the Individual Time Trial won by Simon Yates.

A exciting day is on the cards as the riders say farewell to Hungary ahead of Monday’s rest day to travel to Italy for Tuesday’s first mountain stage in Sicily.

Stage 2 recap

Team BikeExchange Jayco’s Simon Yates produced the time trial of his career to win stage 2 of the Giro d’Italia, and put himself in a strong position in the general classification going into stage 3. Mathieu van der Poel narrowly missed out on the stage win, coming in second to retain the maglia rosa.

Ahead of the stage, all the talk had been over whether or not the Dutch rider for Alpecin-Fenix could achieve back-to-back stage wins, or whether his compatriot, Tom Dumoulin, would be able to best him. The two were side-by-side in the final standings, but nobody could have predicted the incredible form of the British rider, who followed up on his strong time trial at Paris-Nice earlier in the Spring to prove that it was no fluke.

WHEN IS STAGE 3?

STAGE 3 PROFILE AND ROUTE MAP