Source : ABC NEWS
Even goats and dogs could not distract Mads Pedersen from reclaiming the leader’s jersey on the third stage of the Giro d’Italia.
It all went to plan for Pedersen, who won a bunch sprint to snatch back the pink jersey with his second victory in this year’s race.
Pedersen, who rides for Lidl-Trek, edged Corbin Strong by half a wheel at the end of the hilly 160-kilometre leg that started and finished in the Albanian coastal city of Vlorë.
Pedersen also won the opening stage but pre-race favourite Primož Roglič took the pink jersey from him after the time trial.
Pedersen has moved back into pink, ahead of two more sprint stages back in Italy. The Danish cyclist has a nine-second lead over Roglič and is 14 seconds ahead of Czech rider Mathias Vacek.
“Wow, to have two stage victories already and now back in the pink, that’s exactly what we wanted today. This was the plan,” Pedersen said.
Pedersen’s plan almost did not come off, though, as a dog raced across the road in the finale, narrowly avoiding the surging peloton with just over 2 kilometres remaining.
Earlier, several goats scampered across the road, with riders having to swerve to avoid them and New Zealand cyclist Dion Smith almost ending up in a ditch as one jumped at him.
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“First time for a goat for me,” Smith said with a laugh.
“I didn’t have too much time to think but I could see it 10 seconds before, the policeman trying to keep them all in and then one or two started coming across and I don’t know which way I was going to go, but luckily I stayed up.”
Smith said the peloton’s sojourn to Albania had been “great”, with one exception.
“They’ve done really well, I’ve definitely enjoyed it and it was a different experience, but … just watch out for the goats,” he said.
After Jay Vine had crashed on stage one and Luke Plapp in the time trial, there were no further calamities for the 14-strong Australian contingent, but Plapp looked to be still feeling the effects of his spill as he trekked home nearly six-and-a-half minutes off the pace.
But Michael Storer, the Tudor Pro team leader who is the best hope for Australian success, was in sprightly mood in the mountains and finished among the main bunch to still lie ninth overall, 36 seconds behind as the race prepares to move to the Italian mainland after its Albanian adventure.
Among the Australians, Chris Hamilton (Team Picnic PostNL) climbed strongly in an early breakaway and came home safely in the main bunch, as did 2022 winner Jai Hindley (Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe), who leaves Albania only 48 seconds down in 15th overall.
Vine, third in the time trial, again looked to be well recovered from opening day crash as he finished among the main peloton.
It was the last of three stages in Albania before the peloton makes the short transfer across the Adriatic to the Italian region of Puglia, where the race will resume after a rest day.
The fourth stage travels through much of the heel of Italy along a mostly flat, 189km route from the UNESCO World Heritage site of Alberobello to Lecce.
The race ends in Rome on June 1.
AP/AAP
