A 136km Stage 3 of Giro d'Italia on Monday turned into a group arrival, but with 74 riders in the bunch after many were dropped in the undulating section of the parcours.
Rigoberto Uran finished 42nd in the front group for Etixx - Quick-Step, losing no time. Michael Matthews (Orica-GreenEDGE) won the stage over Fabio Felline (Trek Factory Racing) and Philippe Gilbert (BMC Racing Team).
The majority of the parcours was lumpy in profile, which left the possibility of breakaways to get away or GC riders to perhaps make some time differences on competitors. The peloton shed riders with each passing uphill section, particularly the final climb of the day: Category 2 Barbagelata (8.7km, 5.2% average gradient). The attackers of the day were in large groups in the up-and-down sections, such as 20 riders with 58.4km to go and the gap at 47 seconds.
However, near the top of the final categorized climb Pavel Kochetkov (Katusha) went solo as his fellow break mates were about to be caught. He gained as much as a 1 minute advantage on the peloton with his solo effort on a long descent after the climb. A group of 10 chasers formed behind him and they were just 18" back with 17.1km to go. Adam Hansen (Lotto Soudal) was one of those riders, and he attacked to try and bridge with 13.6km to go. Eventually Hansen, Kochetkov, Paterski, and Clarke came together ahead with about 10km remaining.
Those leaders were neutralized inside 5km to go, and with 3.2km to go Sky, Astana, BMC Racing Team, Orica-GreenEDGE and Tinkoff-Saxo went to the front and the stage came down to the riders left in the Maglia Rosa group. Matthews was able to win in the pink jersey.
Gianni Meersman crashed at the end of the long descent of the final climb. He has abrasions on his right shoulder as well as hip and knee, as well as pain in his chest from the impact of the ground. However, Meersman finished the stage. He was not the only rider to crash during the day however, as there was also a serious crash involving Domenico Pozzovivo (AG2R - La Mondiale).
Etixx - Quick-Step looks next to 150km Stage 4, from Chiavari to La Spezia. This stage is medium mountain in profile, with three Category 3 climbs in the stage and an up-and-down nature for most of the race. However, the top of the last climb is at km 140.1, and the rest is descending or flat until the finish.
"Today was a really nervous stage," Uran said. "It was up-and-down, left-and-right the entire day. We were always in a lined out field. Tinkoff-Saxo set a good tempo the entire day. We had a good day as we stayed on the wheels and lost no time. To be honest I am happy that this stage is behind us. In a stage like this, anything can happen around any corner, like it did with the crash of Pozzovivo. I saw him crash in front of me. I hope that it is nothing serious, and I wish him all the best."
"I lost contact with the peloton in the last climb but I wasn't so far from the group, so I was chasing to come back," Meersman said. "I was almost there in the back of the peloton when suddenly in a corner on the right I got a puncture and I lost my front wheel. I was on the ground immediately, there was nothing to do. I had to wait a long time to get a wheel to come back and then at that point I waited for the gruppetto and rode into the finish with them. It's a pity because I was closing the gap and close to rejoining, and I think I could have done the sprint today. It's a missed opportunity for me."
