2020 Giro d'Italia Stage 3 Results & Recap
Stage 3 of the 2020 Giro d'Italia is in the books. The final results and standings are below, followed by our recap of how the race unfolded.
Race Recap
Caicedo climbs to glory on Etna\nby Clara Beard
With unmatched determination, diminutive climber Jonathan Caicedo (EF1) flew up the slopes of Mount Etna ahead of his breakaway companions to take a solo win on stage 3 of the 2020 Giro d’Italia today. The Ecuadorian phenom took the biggest victory of his career 21 seconds ahead of Giovanni Visconti (Vini Zabu-KTM). Harm Vanhoucke took third, 30 seconds back.
“I can’t really believe it yet, it’s a dream that’s come true,” Caicedo said in his team’s release. “Last year something like this just seemed out of reach, we were trying and following, but this year it’s good. When I attacked Visconti, he’s obviously a guy with a lot of experience, I tried to get as much speed as possible to try and overtake him whilst also trying to save as much energy as possible before I got there. I took advantage of the moment and attacked and then managed to have enough in me to take it to the finish. We’ve come here looking for stages, I’ve now taken a stage, it’s been a great one and we’ll just see what the body does and how it responds over the next few days, and we’ll keep trying to look for victories.”
What was a day of tribulation for Caicedo, turned into a day of utter defeat for overall Giro favorite Geraint Thomas (Ineos Grenadiers). The Welshman crashed in the neutral zone, said to have been brought down by a rouge bidon that lodged in his wheel, and landed on his hip.
“Around one or two kilometres into the neutralised start Geraint got a bidon caught in his front wheel and crashed,” team director Matteo Tosatto said. “Initially he had some pain but as the stage continued he felt better. However towards the end in the final 45 kilometres the pace increased and the climbs got steeper – he had some pain and had to finish the stage at his own pace. Now we’ll check him over and get a verdict from our medical staff.”
Thomas lost more than 10 minutes on the 18km ascent to the summit of the active volcano, effectively ending his chances of claiming the maglia rosa. Now, young Portuguese prodigy João Almeida (DQT) has the honors, and will fight to retain that right tomorrow and beyond. Almeida doesn’t have much breathing room on GC, as Caicedo is sits at the same time.
“Leading a Grand Tour is a dream come true,” Almeida said. “This performance left me speechless, I can barely find the words to describe how I feel. The pace was high on the last climb, so I just tried to control my effort. When the wind began blowing hard close to the top, I did everything to just hang in there and make it through the pain. It was a sufferfest until the finish, but I emptied myself out there, because we are the Wolfpack and we always give our best”, said the third Portuguese rider in history to lead a Grand Tour. “I am happy and proud to wear this iconic maglia rosa, which I will try to keep as much as I can, this I promise.”
We will remain in Sicily for tomorrow’s stage of the Giro, which takes the peloton 139km from Catania to Villafranca Tirrena. With just one climb on offer, it’s bound to be another test for the sprinters. Look for Peter Sagan to hunt for redemption after an unusual winless year, and Elia Viviani and Arnaud Démare to also make an appearance.
Get our full coverage of the Giro d'Italia and every race we cover with our mobile app! The apps have over 100 additional exclusive features, including our award-winning Time Machine feature that lets you pause/rewind/replay the entire app to sync with delayed race video, integrated Fantasy Cycling, push notifications, an integrated news feed, live GPS tracking, world-class commentary, and our animated interactive maps and profiles.
