Lidl-Trek masterclass as Mads Pedersen retakes Giro d'Italia lead from Primoz Roglic with Stage 3 win

Mads Pedersen survived the Albanian mountains to retake the leader's pink jersey with a brilliant sprint win on Stage 3 at the Giro d'Italia. Just like the opening stage, Lidl-Trek protected their leader throughout – including a tough Cat. 2 climb – before a long and successful leadout. Pedersen leads the Giro by nine seconds from pre-race favourite Primoz Roglic courtesy of bonus seconds.

Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek) bounced back from the disappointment of Saturday by taking a second stage victory and, thanks to bonus seconds, another pink jersey.

Whether he had become enough of an all-rounder to overcome a serious climbing test and still contest a sprint finish was a question stylishly answered on the Giro d'Italia's final day in Albania.

With the strong support of his team-mates, including the white jersey-wearing Mathias Vacek, the Dane never slipped from the first five riders on the 10km Llogarase pass.

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Once the remains of the breakaway were brought back 15km from the finish in coastal Vlore, Lidl-Trek maintained complete control over a reduced peloton.

Giulio Ciccone handed over to the last lead-out rider, Vacek, before the Czech moved aside and let Pedersen finish the job.

Corbin Strong (Israel PremierTech) did well to come back towards the finish, making Pedersen work for the win, but in the end it proved to be the perfect plan, immaculately executed.

Pedersen back in pink with 'herculean' sprint win on Stage 3

Video credit: TNT Sports

While from even before the start of the stage those intentions could not have been clearer, there were plenty of teams with eyes on disrupting them.

Josh Tarling (Ineos Grenadiers), was one looking to rock the boat. Still brimming with confidence, Saturday’s stage winner seemed to have designs on pink when he attacked early out of the bunch, making it away with Lorenzo Germani (Groupama-FDJ), Mark Donovan (Q36.5 Pro Cycling) and Chris Hamilton (Picnic PostNL) in tow. The four were joined by the late-leaving Alessandro Tonelli (Polti VisitMalta) and Dries De Bondt (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale), to form a six-strong escape.

Maglia rosa Primoz Roglic’s Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe team-mates might have been expected to leave the day’s heavy lifting to the colleagues of stage favourite Pedersen. Instead they went to work, with Nico Denz and Giulio Pellizzari taking it in turns at the front to keep the breakaway’s lead to three minutes or less.

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An uncategorised climb ahead of the serious categorised test saw chunks taken out of it, as purer sprinters than Pedersen began to go backwards. There were skirmishes for minor classifications, including the points competition which saw Tonelli take enough points to temporarily become the virtual maglia ciclamino.

The hardest climb of the Giro so far, the Llogarase Pass, was expected to be where the day would really take shape, and so it proved. Red Bull handed over the reins to Lidl-Trek who set a high enough pace to deter most attacks.

Not all, however. Lorenzo Fortunato (XDS Astana) with designs on the King of the Mountains, made a move one third of the way up. Pello Bilbao (Bahrain Victorious) and Gianmarco Garofoli (Soudal Quick-Step) were the most willing and able to follow, as Lidl-Trek kept calm and carried on.

By the summit Fortunato and Bilbao had caught and dispensed with the remains of the original break, leading by 50 seconds as they went over and onto the descent. It was not enough, even on the tricky turns that led back down to the coast. As the road widened, Lidl-Trek turned a casual chase into a concerted one, completing the catch 18km out from Vlore.

Though the climb had reduced the numbers in the peloton, more riders than might have been expected were able to regain contact on the descent - including New Zealand sprinter Strong.

That at least told Lidl-Trek they were not going to get a clear run at the line, and forced them to both concentrate and work for the remainder of the stage. On the run-in, former Giro and Tour KOM Ciccone fended off several attempts to force him from the front, before handing over to Vacek as Pedersen’s last lead-out inside the flamme rouge. As the white jersey gave it everything as Pedersen remained glued to Vacek’s wheel, while every other hopeful fought for his.

Pedersen hit the wind 200m from the line, holding off a surging Strong by the length of a wheel.

For Pedersen, "to have two stage victories already, and now [to be] back in the pink, it's exactly what we wanted today."

Afterwards the Danish rider paid tribute to all of his team-mates, and one in particular: "It shows something about [Ciccone's] character and the person he is that he is so committed to the team and helping me in the lead-out like this. It shows what we can do on Lidl-Trek. We are supporting each other everywhere. I can't wait to come to the mountains and give back to Cicco."

The Giro resumes on Tuesday in southern Italy, where the true sprinters will be put to the test in Lecce.

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