Hungary’s guest appearance in the Giro d’Italia ended yesterday with a stage victory for veteran sprint champion Mark Cavendish (Quick-Step) in Balatonfüred on Lake Balaton. Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin) defended the pink jersey he had won at the start over all three stages sovereign. After today’s rest day, which is used for the trip to Sicily, the tour of Italy begins again tomorrow, when the first real executioner awaits the drivers with the mountain finish at Etna volcano and the classification is freshly sorted.
After two years of pandemic, the Giro organizer RCS Sport was happy about a certain “return to normality”, which was additionally sweetened with the trip to Hungary with 20 million euros “entry fee”. But Budapest and the surrounding area will remain pleasant memories for the cycling aces. “You could feel the enthusiasm of the people,” says Tobias Bayer, who was able to travel comfortably by train from Upper Austria to the start of the Giro last week. But when you have a leader like Van der Poel in your team, you have a lot of work to do. The Dutchman is likely to give up his lead on Mount Etna, but he’s still good for stage wins. “Perhaps there will be a chance for another one of us to get into a breakaway group,” hopes Bayer.
Breaking away is not Mark Cavendish’s profession, sprinting is even more so. The 36-year-old Briton celebrated a stage success on his Giro comeback after nine years, his 16th at this national tour and the 160th professional victory overall. Nevertheless, he is not completely happy: “I hope that I can also take part in the tour in July.” (free)
105th Giro d’Italia: 3rd stage (Kaposvar – Balatonfüred/201 km): 1st Cavendish (Gb) Quickstep 4:56:39 hrs, 2nd Demare (Fra) Groupama FDJ, 3rd Gaviria (Kol) UAE Team Emirates; further: 20. Gall (Austria) AG2R Trek; 30. P. Gamper (Ö) Bora; 72. Bayer (Ö) Alpecin all the same time. 2nd stage (individual time trial in Budapest/9.2 km): 1st S. Yates (Gb) BikeExchange 11:50 min, 2nd Van der Poel (Ned) Alpecin +3sec, 3rd Dumoulin (Ned) Jumbo +5; Overall standings: 1st Van der Poel 9:43:50 hours, 2nd Yates +11s, 3rd Dumoulin +16, 4th Sobrero (It) BikeExchange +24, 5th Kelderman (Ned) Bora; further: 46. Gall +1:09 min.; 113. Gamper +3:34; 118. Bayer +3:47; 162. Brandle (Austria) Israel +7:01.
Source: Nachrichten
