Piazza Unità d'Italia in Trieste, the main square in the biggest city of the whole Friuli-Venezia Giulia area, played host to the start of leg three, whose finishing line was a good 139 kilometres far away, in a town called Gradisca d'Isonzo, near the Italo-Slovenian border.
The opening part of the stage, along the Adriatic coastline and the Carso plateau, was peppered with breakaway attempts, but all of them were nullified by the high-paced peloton. Some bad news came in the early kilometres too: Rafael Infantino Abreu (Podenzano), one of the main overall contenders, pulled out of the race. The Colombian was involved in a crash during the previous stage, resulting in bruises and a wrist fracture; he took to the startline anyway, but after a short time unfortunately had to surrender to pain.
The first breakaway worth of mention came after 40 kilometres, courtesy of Italy's Damiano Margutti and Adram Canzini (both with the Podenzano outfit) as well as Paolo Capponcelli (Fausto Coppi-Gazzera-Videa). Abreu's two teammates and the man bearing the Campionissimo's name on his jersey were good enough at building a decent gap over the field.
Margutti won the first Hot Spot sprint at Duino (km. 52) with the gruppo 52" in arrears. The maximum gap (01'10") was reached by km 65, and the three leaders battled it out for the points at stake at the San Michele KOM sprint (third category). Capponcelli took revenge on Margutti, with Canzini in third. Sadly enough (for them) the bunch picked up the pace at the end of the descent that followed, and brought the guys back at the foot of the second climb, San Floriano. The peloton was together again. First over the top of this ascent was Marco Stefani (Ita - Danton) ahead of Robert Vrecer and David Tratnik (both riding with the Radenska team).
One more descent came. And one more attack. And this time it was the good one: the red jersey holder Federico Vitali (Ita - Faresin Breganze), Fabio Negri (Ita - Team Aurora), Oleg Berdos (Mol - Permac Brisot Bibanese), Tomislav Danculovic (Cro - Loborika), Davide D'Angelo (Ita - P-Nivo), Stefan Denifl (Aut - Austrian National Team) and Andriy Buchko (Ukr - Progettociclismo) rode away from the pack that contained overall leader's Uros Silar (Slo - Sava Kranj); it didn't take a long time for those to build a minute's advantage.
Funnily enough (but perhaps not to those directly involved) the front group were misled into taking the wrong direction at km. 110, forcing the jury to stop the race temporarily and let it start again with the "original" advantage (51 seconds) on the white jersey holder's group. The second and last intermediate sprint of the day (Gradisca, km. 121) saw Negri prevail ahead of D'Angelo and Buchko the Ukrainian. The bunch never gave up the chase, but with a 40-second deficit to make up for in the last 4,000 metres, the breakaway looked doomed to success.
In fact, line honours became a matter of seven. Danculovic tried to turn them into a matter of himself only by launching a last-kilometre attack. But Moldova's national RR champion Oleg Berdos still had legs good enough to cover this move and come around the Croatian hopeful to win the stage, with D'Angelo as "best of the rest", and top finisher from the host country, in spot number three. It was Berdos's first ever triumph in the nation he's been based in for three years. Federico Vitali missed the right move and a good chance to hit the podium as stage victor, but he may well take some NOT SO SMALL solace in wearing the white jersey: Friday's performance put the Italian atop the leaderboard! Silar is currently trailing him by 18 seconds on the GC. The 26-year-old wearing the Faresin-Panni-Velo Club Breganze jersey also leads the KOM classification, by the way.
On with a few after-race comments. First of all those from stage winner Oleg Berdos: "After the descent I tried to escape from the bunch, and I was joined by six more riders. Initially I wasn't riding that hard, as we had De Marchi in the second group, but when I saw we had good options to stay clear until the finish, I started to commit myself to the break. (In the sprint) I was a bit afraid of Federico Vitali, but when Danculovic attacked I followed him and then had a good sprint. A dedication? Well, that's for the team, the staff and (team boss) Lino Celante".
And second of all, those from "stage loser" but GC leader Federico Vitali. "I even tried to win the sprint, but I was basically aiming for the jersey, and I got it. I don't know what I'll be able to do tomorrow, as I'm not a climber and it's not going to be easy for me on the Matajur. There are many strong riders that can do well tomorrow, and also some foreigners I don't know too well. The only thing I'm certain of is that both my teammates and I will try and keep the jersey with all our strenght".
Vitali's "tomorrow" is in fact Saturday, and Monte Matajur is the uphill finish of the 155-kilometre fourth, penultimate and possibly crucial stage set to start at Pozzuolo del Friuli.
Stage 3: (Trieste to Gradisca, 139.3 km): Top 10 Results
1. BERDOS Oleg (Mol - Bibanese) - 03h06'34"
2. DANCULOVIC Tomislav (Cro - Loborika) - s.t.
3. D'ANGELO Davide (Ita - P-Nivo) - at 03"
4. NEGRI Fabio (Ita - Mapooro Named) - s.t.
5. VITALI Federico (Ita - Faresin Breganze) - s.t.
6. DENIFL Stefan (Aut - Austrian National Team) - s.t.
7. BUCHKO Andriy (Ukr - OTC-Progettociclismo) - at 5"
8. BIOLO Gianpaolo (Ita - Italian NT) - at 23"
9. MARZOLI Samuele (Ita - Pagnoncelli) - s.t.
10. PINOS Andrea (Ita - UC Basso Piave) - s.t.
* Complete stage results HERE (pdf file)
GC after Stage 3: Top 10 Places
1. VITALI Federico (Ita - Faresin Breganze)
2. SILAR Uros (Slo - Sava Kranj) - at 18"
3. CAMPA Rudy (Ita - Progettociclismo) - at 20"
4. PIECHELE Andrea (Ita - UC Trevigiani) - s.t.
5. DE MARCHI Alessandro (Ita - Bibanese) - s.t.
6. KLYUEV Andrey (Rus - Caneva) - s.t.
7. COLO' Alessandro (Ita - Promociclo) - at 24"
8. GIACOMIN Andrea (Ita - Filmop) - at 47"
9. CANZIANI Daniele (Ita - Pagnoncelli) - s.t.
10. BERDOS Oleg (Mol - Bibanese) - at 01'03"
* Full GC after Stage 1 HERE (pdf file)
Points: Standings after Stage 3
1. PIECHELE Andrea (Ita - UC Trevigiani)
2. SILAR Uros (Slo - Sava Kranj)
3. BERDOS Oleg (Mol - Bibanese)
Hot Spot Sprints: Standings after Stage 3
1. NEGRI Fabio (Ita - Team Aurora)
2. CANZIANI Daniele (Ita - Pagnoncelli)
3. MARGUTTI Damiano (Ita - Podenzano)
Mountains: Standings after Stage 3
1. VITALI Federico (Ita - Faresin Breganze)
2. STEFANI Marco (Ita - Danton)
3. PIECHELE Andrea (Ita - UC Trevigiani)
Young Riders: Standings after Stage 3
1. PIECHELE Andrea (Ita - UCTrevigiani)
2. DE MARCHI Alessandro (Ita - Bibanese)
3. KLYUEV Andrey (Rus - Caneva)
News courtesy Giro del Friuli.
* 46th Giro Ciclistico del Friuli-Venezia Giulia - Stage One
* 46th Giro Ciclistico del Friuli-Venezia Giulia - Stage Two
