Giro d'Italia 2025 Stage 3 LIVE - Can Mads Pedersen make it over the mountains to take pink from Primoz Roglic on the final day in Albania?

Giro d'Italia

Stage 3 | Semi mountain | Men | 11.05.2025

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VlorëVlorë

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17:03

NEW GENERAL CLASSIFICATION

1. Mads Pedersen 7'42'10
2. Primoz Roglic +09"
3. Mathias Vacek +14"
4. Brandon McNulty +21"
5. Juan Ayuso +25"
6. Isaac Del Toro +26"
7. Max Poole +33"
8. Antonio Tiberi +34"
9. Michael Storer +36"
10. Giulio Pellizzari +40"

16:59

MADS PEDERSEN: IT WAS EXACTLY AS WE WANTED
This was the plan from this morning, to put a good pace on the long climb, to control it for ourselves and ensure I didn't have to go over the limit. Everyone from the team did amazing on the climb and also before. From the climb on it was controlling as far as we could, and we hoped for some drag race. It was exactly as we wanted. Ciccone and Vacek were amazing. To have two stage victories already, and now back in the pink, it's exactly what we wanted today. It shows something about [Ciccone's] character and the person he is that he is so committed to the team and helping me in the lead-out like this. It shows what we can do on Lidl-Trek. We are supporting each other everywhere. I can't wait to come to the mountains and give back to Cicco.

16:38

STAGE TOP TEN
1. Mads Pedersen (Lidl Trek) 3’49’47"
2. Corbin Strong (IsraelPremierTech) "
3. Orluis Aular (Movistar) "
4. Brandon Rivera (Ineos Grenadiers) "
5. Edoardo Zambanini (Bahrain Victorious) "
6) Stefano Oldani (Cofidis) "
7. Andrea Vendrame (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale) "
8. Martin Marcellusi (VF Group-Bardiani CSF-Faizanè) "
9. Filippo Fiorelli (VF Group-Bardiani CSF-Faizanè) "
10. Christian Scaroni (XDS Astana) "

Great result for Rivera, and that's a bunch of Italians making up the numbers.

16:29

CORBIN STRONG: I KNEW I COULD CONTEST THE SPRINT

Yeah, that was a close sprint. I've always had confidence I could take it to these guys in a sprint if I had a good run. I had a lot of confidence after stage 1, but it was really hard. I had to fight a lot on the climb, got dropped before the top and took a long time to chase back on.

16:22

MADS PEDERSEN IS BACK IN THE MAGLIA ROSA!

Primoz Roglic didn't get involved in the end, opting to play it safe and wisely ensuring he lives to fight another day. The ten bonus seconds taken on the line give Mads Pedersen the race lead by a relatively healthy 9 seconds.

16:19

MADS PEDERSEN WINS STAGE 3!

Wow, that was close! Fantastic lead-out from Mathias Vacek in the white jersey, who kept the pace as high as possible and left it so so late to hand over to his captain. It wasn't a tap-in for Pedersen, as Corbin strong ran him very very close, seeming to draw level but the Dane was able to kick again and for longer. It looked closer head-on than from overhead, which showed he won it by at least a wheel. A plan that came together.

16:18

FLAMME ROUGE: A BIT OF TUSTLING ON A NARROW LANE

A serious fight for position, and Ciccone isn't happy about something. Red Bull still there. Is Roglic going to contest this? It's getting hot.

16:16

3KM TO GO: INSIDE THE SAFETY ZONE

The GC teams will look to hand over to Lidl-Trek. All eyes on Pedersen and pals.

16:14

5KM TO GO: BAHRAIN VICTORIOUS ON THE CHARGE

Caruso keeping the pace high and stretching it out. They don't really have a sprinter so it must be for Tiberi. It's very twisty this coastal road. I do hope there are no catastrophes.

16:11

8KM TO GO: THERE MIGHT BE MORE SPRINTERS HERE THAN WE KNOW

This is not a very reduced bunch, and while it probably doesn't contain the likes of Sam Bennett, Kaden Groves and Olav Kooij, it does include Corbin Strong who has made it over and up there. It's not going to be a tap-in for Pedersen. As Rob Hatch says, there are no foregone conclusions in cycling.

16:05

10KM TO GO: THE REDUCED BUNCH SPRINT IS ON

And the teams are in formation with that of the maglia rosa and Lidl-Trek in the center, Bahrain Victorious and UAE front left, EF, Ineos and Picnic PostNL on the right.

16:02

15KM TO GO: CROSS-HEADWINDS ADDING TO THE TENSION

But brings a few more teams to the front for positional reasons, unintentionally pushing the pace and deterring those attacks that Lidl-Trek could do without. Rob Hatch describes it as "not quite a penalty kick, but a direct free kick" at the maglia rosa.

15:58

18KM TO GO: THAT'S IT FOR THE BREAK

Good try, not completely empty of reward for Fortunato, who is in the mountains game.

15:55

20KM TO GO: PELOTON WITH MISSILE LOCK ON FORTUNATO AND BILBAO

Down to single digit seconds. Vacek is going to have to contribute to this chase, I think, but Lidl-Trek do have numbers to keep the pace high for the remainder of the race. Will Pedersen have the legs to contest the final, though? He doesn't have to be the fastest sprinter in the whole race, just fastest of those remaining in the peloton. Most of the fast men have been dropped on the climb, but a few of the mids have made it back on.

15:52

23KM TO GO: RED BULL LEAVE IT TO LIDL

"You want the jersey, go and get it," they effectively say.

15:46

30KM TO GO: THE ROAD WIDENS, THE SPEED RISES

100kph reads the speedo on the video motorbike. There's still the better part of 15km of descent left and the gap is coming down. A split on the descent has been sewn back together.

15:42

34KM TO GO: JENS WASN'T KIDDING ABOUT THIS DESCENT

It's got rollers which give riders a false sense of security, and then a hairpin out of nowhere. Bilbao, the better descender of the pair, is showing Fortunato the best line to follow. The Italian man is having to work a lot hard than the Spaniard.

15:37

38KM TO GO: FORTUNATO DRAWS LEVEL WITH SYLVAIN MONIQUET

He and Bilbao reach the summit 51 seconds before the bunch, which is itself led over by UAE Team Emirates-XRG. I always forget the XRG.

15:35

39KM TO GO: TOM PIDCOCK COMES TO THE FRONT

A kilo from the summit, and surely with his mind on the descent. "Lots and lots of turns. Holy smokes" says Jens Voigt.

40KM TO GO: STUNNING VIEWS ON THIS VERY PROPER CLIMB

If anyone doubted that a bike race is an advert for a tourist board. The front of the race is now just two strong, with Chris Hamilton the last original member of the band to fall away. Fortunato and Bilbao are 2km from the summit and are closing on a minute's lead. That's more than Lidl would like, but still probably not too much to worry them.

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