Peter Sagan (Liquigas-Cannondale) won the third stage of the Giro di Sardegna (Tour of Sardinia) between Orani and Lanusei, his second victory in the race so far. The Slovakian outsprinted Jose Serpa (Androni Giocattoli), who took his second successive second place, with yesterday’s winner Damiano Cunego (Lampre-ISD) finishing third at the end of the rolling 173km stage.
"I had a lot of help from my teammates,” said Sagan to la Gazzetta dello Sport. “In the final [Vincenzo] Nibali and [Valerio] Agnoli made the pace, from a kilometre and a half I was brought to the finish by [Eros] Capecchi, who stayed at the front until 200 metres to go.
“We had decided [that I would go for the win] at the start,” he explained, “but along the way – mostly on the climbs – I started to have doubts. I talked with the team, and all they told me to relax."
The hero of the day was 2008 World champion Alessandro Ballan (BMC Racing), who escaped the peloton alone after just 13km. He was soon joined by Maxim Iglinski (Astana), Marco Frapporti (Colnago-CSF Inox), Alexander Porsev (Katusha), Lucas Euser (Spidertech p/b C10) and Antonio Santoro (Androni Giocattoli) and between them they began to build an advantage over the rest of the field.
After 100km the six riders held a lead of 5 minutes; as they crossed the 1st category Passo Genna Silana and the rolling roads beyond it though, the gap began to come down. At 122km the lead had dropped to 1’32” and steadily continued to reduce as the race entered the final 50km.
With 15km to go, and with their advantage over the peloton down to less than a minute, Ballan and Santoro left the other four behind. Inside the final 10km though, their lead continued to drop and as it dropped below 30 seconds and Ballan struck out alone.
Unfortunately for the former World champion, the peloton was in no mood to allow a breakaway victory and he was finally reeled in with 6km to go on the final 2nd category drag up to the finish, having been out in front for more than 150km.
As soon as Ballan was caught Paolo Tiralongo (Astana) tried to get away alone but was quickly snapped back up again. Stefano Pirazzi (Colnago-CSF Inox) was the next to try his luck but he too was quickly brought back and with 4km to go the peloton was all together.
Sagan, Liquigas-Cannondale teammate Capecchi, and Cunego led the front group into the final kilometre. And the Slovak rider was strongest, as he had been on the race’s first day.
The 10-second bonus on the line for Sagan, and with Cunego picking up just 4 for his third place, sees the Slovakian take back the lead that the Italian took from him yesterday; he now leads the race by 4 seconds.
Result stage 3
1. Peter Sagan (Svk) Liquigas Cannondale
2. José Serpa (Col) Androni Giocattoli
3. Damiano Cunego (Ita) Lampre-ISD
4. Emanuele Sella (Ita) Androni Giocattoli @ 2s
5. Ben Hermans (Bel) RadioShack
6. Michele Scarponi (Ita) Lampre-ISD
7. Daniele Pietropolli (Ita) Lampre-ISD
8. Domenico Pozzovivo (Ita) Colnago-CSF Inox
9. Robert Kiserlovski (Cro) Astana
10. Angel Vicioso (Spa) Androni Giocattoli
Standings after stage 3
1. Peter Sagan (Svk) Liquigas Cannondale
2. Damiano Cunego (Ita) Lampre-ISD @ 4s
3. José Serpa (Col) Androni Giocattoli @ 6s
4. Emanuele Sella (Ita) Androni Giocattoli @ 17s
5. Ben Hermans (Bel) RadioShack @ 22s