The 3rd stage of Tirreno-Adriatico came down to a bunch sprint with Fernando Gaviria (Etixx-Qickstep) winning the stage ahead of Caleb Ewan (Orica-Greenedge) and Elia Viviani (Team Sky).
It was a regular sprinters stage today as the only climb of the day summited with still 65km to go. The peloton allowed a 4 rider break to go clear and they rode away to a 4’30” lead over the Etixx led peloton.
Orica-Greenedge would also contribute a rider to the chase and that was enough to make sure the escape was kept at a manageable time gap all stage. The catch was calculated to near perfection as with 5km to go, a charging peloton raced into Montalto di Castro to contest the sprint finish.
Team Dimension Data for Qhubeka were riding for Edvald Boasson Hagen once again today. Mark Cavendish did a great turn to bring the team to the front of the race with 1km to go. Mark Renshaw then went shoulder to shoulder with the Tinkoff riders as they went under the flamme rouge, with Boasson Hagen in tow.
As the sprint opened up the final was not as hard as our African Team had hoped and Boasson Hagen lost a few places while Gaviria charged ahead to take a good victory. Our Norwegian champion went on to cross the line in 15th position as our highest placed rider on the day.
Roger Hammond – Sport Director
