Welcome again, it's day three of the Giro d'Italia! We stay by the Ligurian seaside and have travelled just some kilometers south-east from yesterday's finish line in Genova, to the Riviera's largest seaside resort in Rapallo.
Founded in the 8th century BC by Etruscans or Greeks - the historians aren't quite sure - it was the scene of many a battle through the ages, due to its proximity to the coast. Later on, the mild climate made it a preferred winter residence for the wealthy living in North Italy. Who says wealthy people says golf - and indeed, one of Italy's oldest golf courses is found here as well.
Castles, villas, historical towers - a lot of things to see here, if you're not racing. But the riders are, and so they'll leave this spa soon - to finally reach Sestri Levante, just 20km further south-east along the seaside. The historic center of today's finish location is situated on the Portobello peninsula, and is the city's main place of interest.
Not for us, though - most interesting for us will be the finish line today. And even more interesting: who will reach it up front? Because although the direct line is just 20km long, the riders will do a bit more than 130km - including quite some hills!
And the first ascent begins shortly after the start, as the riders ascend the Monte di Portofino, on the peninsula having the same name. A good warm-up, yet an unclassified climb. That changes soon after, as they head North to reach the first 3rd category KoM sprint, the Colle Caprile, after 25km. Expect a fast pace and many attacks until there!
After a short descent, we then have a gentle climb up to Scoffera, where we'll get today's intermediate sprint - and we're still just inside the first 50 kilometers.
Two more uncategorized climbs, a longer descent - and then we're ahead of today's biggest obstacle, the first 2nd category climb to Barbagelata. Which means "frozen beard". Well, this village isn't that high up, but it's a pretty steep hill nonetheless. Actually, the official name of the KoM sprint is "Sunset in Barbagelata" - I hope we'll arrive before that!
The riders then have a pretty long downhill to rest a bit, until they reach the final 10 kilometers along the seaside. And then, we'll see who's got the fastest legs today. Can race leader Appollonio keep up across all these hills? Will Demare get his first win? Or will the GC contenders fight this one out? We'll see in a couple of hours!
By the way, with today's stage being rated as "hilly", there are only 30 points available for the winner, meaning there are only 3 potential candidates to take over the points jersey from Appollonio, not taking into account the points from the intermediate sprint.
And now, before we go to the start line, let's take a look at today's favorite. Obviously on top of the list is Demare, arguably the best puncheur-sprinter in the world. Three stars go as well to his teammate Arndt and to Spilak. Vakoc, Kuboki and McCarthy are next on the list, which is rounded off by Bystrom, Paez, Kritskiy and Barguil - a nice mix of puncheurs and climbers. But now it's definitely time to go to the start line!
It's another cloudy day here on the Ligurian coast - but the temperatures are perfect for a great day of cycling. Let's go!
The riders already have the first part of the first hill behind them, as we finall get the first attack! Yesterday, his team didn't make it into the breakaway, so this time Gabburo attacks early, hoping for some better chances to get away!
Lierse SK weren't positioned well enough to respond immediately, but as they obviously would like to place a rider up front as well, they're chasing for the moment. We've already seen this...
Now onto the first category 3 climb this year, the Colle Caprile. Less than 5% steep on average, but more than 10 kilometers long - that's rather one for the climbers, not the puncheurs.
Gabburo has now reached the slightly steeper part of the hill, where the gradients go up to 7% in some sections. He's still all alone and might take the virtual KoM jersey when reaching the top!
He's 1'30" ahead of the pack, where Lierse SK are still chasing.
Ah, we finally get another attack! Budenieks is the first to make a move, and this time Fedeli is attentive enough to join the Latvian! With them are Bizkarra and Malecki - which makes it two Isostar riders on the move after yesterday's bad luck.
Of course, Lierse SK immediately stop the chase, having now sent a rider up front. Nobody else is willing to do the work at the moment, so this quartet seems to be gone!
Budenieks is clearly stronger than Fedeli, simply riding away from the Italian, and soon catching another Azzurro in Gabburo.
Fedeli, Bizkarra and Malecki are still trying to close in, with the former having to do all the work so far. Only 1.3km to the top!
Budenieks easily wins the KoM sprint, whereas Gabburo has completely cracked and was overtaken by all the others. Fedeli's legs are quite heavy as well, after all the chasing work, meaning it's Bizkarra and Malecki fighting for 2nd place on top...
...which goes to the former. Therefore, we have the following points distribution:
1. Budenieks - 6
2. Bizkarra - 4
3. Malecki - 2
With only a 4th category climb on the menu yesterday, Budenieks has now taken the lead, one point ahead of Setiawa, who's staying in the pack today. Bizkarra moves up to third, two points behind the Latvian.
Fedeli and Gabburo don't really look great - can they eventually join the trio up front? Or will they be caught by the pack?
But the peloton really isn't interested in catching the escapees too soon, so even Gabburo is two minutes ahead now. Which likely means that the five breakaway riders will regroup soon.
And here it happens, just as they are done with the descent. With a gap of 2'36", it's pretty unlikely that someone else will join them, so let's call them the Breakaway of the Day!
And it's actually a rather strong one! Gabburo and Malecki both are good puncheurs with a decent sprint and good resistance. Moreover, they both are strong flat riders, with the latter having stronger climbing skills - that might come in handy, given today's total altitude gain to tackle!
Which brings us to Bizkarra, who is clearly the strongest in this discipline. However, he's at the same time the worst sprinter - let's see if he'll rather work for his teammate then!
Budenieks will also hope for the climbing skills to come into play, as he's pretty good there as well, being a slightly faster sprinter than Bizkarra.
Fedeli is definitely the weakest rider in the group, as he basically just likes some hills and not much else. However, to be fair, he's the only level 3 rider in this group.
GC-wise, Malecki is the best positioned rider, 25" off the lead. Bizkarra and Gabburo both are 50" behind Appollonio, whereas it's 56" for Budenieks and 1'05" for Fedeli. Let's see if that will have any importance - so far, the pack doesn't really care, with the gap still around 2'30".
Uh-oh, that will be a long, long day for Suryadi, who already has to let go after 40km! Let's see if even the time limit could be an issue for him - it would be a bit early on day 3, however!
The breakaway then get to the top of an uncategorized climb, which however is marked by an intermediate sprint. Five riders can gain points - so there's something available for all of them! But most points go to Malecki.
This makes Fedeli the highest placed rider in the points standings, having collected 11 points so far. That's currently 8th place for him - with many more points at stake on the finish line!
Aregger leads the pack across the sprint line 2'48" later. It's more or less the teams of today's favorites having taken control now, but riding just about at the same pace as the breakaway. 85km to go.
Mraouni then decides it's time to push a bit harder, bringing down the gap by a minute within just a few kilometers! Have ISA - Hexacta planned something on the remaining hills?
Garcia Cortina, Fernandes, Cullaigh and Boudat help him a bit with the chase, but the Moroccan is by far doing most of the work.
Yet another hilltop is traversed, as the breakaway is led by Budenieks. Only a long, rather flat hill and then the category 2 climb are left - 30km until that KoM sprint, 72km until the finish line.
The bunch has again slowed down a little - or the escapees have accelerated - as the gap is up to 2'18" now.
The pack is still in the climb that the escapees have just left behind - and there are some more distanced riders now. These include mainly TT specialists: Dillier, Yatsevich and Haugard. Furthermore, we see Bahamian champion Major behind the pack, just here with Dillier.
The breakaway riders have already left behind that next hilltop, across which Madouas and Aregger are leading the pack now. They're still taking it pretty easy, as the gap is still around 2'10".
But even a low pace isn't really appreciated by Appollonio, who is close to the rear of the peloton! Although he can ride some hills, the repeated climbing today surely isn't his main strength! He needs to hold on for another hill, and then he might even fight for back-to-back stage wins!
However, that last hill isn't an easy one! The first five kilometers are around 8-9% steep on average, with just the last kilometer flattening out a bit! It's some great terrain for an attack - be it up front or back in the peloton!
The five escapees are still riding together as they tackle the final obstacle of the day! Will 2'09" of advantage be enough to arrive on top ahead of the pack?
We can see all the GC contenders positioning up front - nobody wants to lose time by missing a decisive move! Demare is obviously well placed as well - and he's the only sprinter up front, all others being near the back - or even dropping off?
That's a good keyword, as dropping off is just what Fedeli does! It really shows that he's - or was - the weakest member of the group. They don't accelerate, but his legs are just empty.
Given that the peloton isn't that far away any more, it shouldn't take long for them to reel in the Italian.
However, the gap hasn't shrunk so far, hovering still around 2'10"! 4km of climbing left, followed by a long and rather twisty descent!
That's the moment where Nizzolo, Granjel Cabrera and Goss wave goodbye to the peloton - and to their chances for a stage win today. Meyer has been distanced already earlier in that climb, along with Boudat.
And we see more time trialists falling off as well; Dal Col is with Nizzolo, Van Winden and Campenaerts are already gone, and Hepburn is about to lose contact as well. It's definitely not this one hill that broke them, but the climbing all day long.
By the way, the peloton's deficit has gone up to 2'30" again - they should really make a move now, else it might be too late!
Up front, Bizkarra launches the KoM sprint with 1.5km to go. He probably won't be able to keep it up until the line, so he's likely just leading out his teammate!
But well, that was a complete failure, as it's Gabburo who can't keep up! Obviously, Bizkarra tires out eventually, so it's the two others battling it out for getting the Maglia Azzurra tonight!
Budenieks simply has got more energy left, and takes that one. Malecki comes second, with the two Isostar riders 3rd and 4th. Who can take the remaining two points? Has the pack already caught Fedeli?
No, they haven't, and so the Italian takes two more points! Which makes it the following result:
Which means that the Latvian will be our new KoM leader. But will he wear that jersey - or even a more important one?
It might sound incredible, but the pack's deficit has actually exploded on that hill, and it's now around 3'30"! With just 40km to go - thereof about 20 downhill - the breakaway actually has a real chance of getting the stage win - and the Maglia Rosa!
When speaking about the Maglia Rosa - Appollonio definitely benefits from the peloton's low speed, making it over the top inside the pack. And some other sprinters are there, too - we can spot Eislers, Van Poppel, Kennaugh and Contreras. Demare is obviously there, too, as are Afewerki, Hsu, Kuboki and Zhao. Meaning that there should be enough teams interested in catching those breakaway riders!
But those definitely have different ideas! Malecki and Budenieks are still ahead, but Bizkarra is closing in, and Gabburo isn't that far away, either - just ahead of the red car. 27km to go - and the gap is still more than 3 minutes!
Fedeli is finally caught by Niu on that descent - but it's not really because the Chinese rides so fast - the Italian is just a horrible downhiller. Still more than 3 minutes of a deficit!
20 kilometers to go, which means that the downhill is over! The route still has a negative slope, but it's just around 1-2% - which of course is in the breakaway's favor!
Gabburo still has a gap of 24" to close - and it really looks like the pack has given up, as their deficit is up to 3'53" by now! The escapees must be either completely cooked or start playing games early if they are to lose that advantage now!
We don't really understand why, but Polar have now taken command with Garcia Cortina and Nych. As they're not really riding hard, some distanced riders are able to come back to the pack, which has grown back to 148 riders.
Gabburo has made it! He's been able to re-join the leading trio, meaning that Isostar now again have a numerical advantage! 17.5km to go, still 3'53" of advantage - they really shouldn't lose that one now!
We're on the final 10,000 meters! Gabburo isn't doing any work, but the three others still work well together. With now 4'17" of advantage, and only ten flat kilometers remaining, we can take it as a fact that one of these four will win the stage - and take the pink jersey!
As a reminder, Malecki is in the best position, having now 29" on Bizkarra after winning six bonus seconds at the intermediate sprint - the others would need to drop the Pole to steal the jersey from him!
The leaders have now reached the seaside, which they will ride along to Sestri Levante. 6.6km remaining!
Five kilometers to go, and the leading quartet is still together, 3'52" ahead of the peloton.
Let's recall that Malecki and Gabburo - who hasn't been leading a single meter since he re-joined - are the strongest sprinters of this group, while the Italian's teammate Bizkarra is the worst. Budenieks isn't much weaker than the former two, though - so we should get a tense finale!
Bizkarra does what he has to do - he attacks with 2.6km to go! Budenieks is trying to respond, while Gabburo asks Malecki to close the gap, as he doesn't want to chase down his teammate.
Under the Fiamma Rossa, the four have regrouped, with Gabburo still sitting in last position. The team strategy has worked like a charm so far - he just needs to win the sprint now to finish it off in style!
Bizkarra then opens the sprint, with Budenieks taking his wheel. Malecki has almost passed these two with 700m to go, but Gabburo has just left his slipstream and is the fastest on the road!
500 meters to the line, and we now have Malecki ahead of Gabburo - the two fastest men on paper are the fastest on the road as well!
Just 300m left, and now it's Gabburo who has taken the lead! Malecki hasn't thrown in the towel, though, whereas Bizkarra and Budenieks will likely have to settle for 3rd and 4th.
Gabburo is holding onto his lead, and he just needs to keep doing so for 200m to get the greatest win of his career! Malecki may well know that he will be the new GC leader, but he surely doesn't want to give away the stage win for free!
And the Pole is actually closing in again with 100 meters to go, now again moving faster than Gabburo! Can he get that stage win, or will he be running out of road?
It's the latter, as Davide Gabburo celebrates his first GT stage win here in Sestri Levante! Kamil Malecki has to settle for 2nd, but will find a great consolation in the Maglia Rosa!
Mikel Bizkarra makes it a perfect day for Isostar - Specialized, as the team gets two spots on today's stage podium! That was fantastic teamwork, with the weaker sprinter launching a late attack, forcing the others to work - and his teammate then having most left in the tank and winning the sprint!
Kristaps Budenieks takes 4th place - but at least he'll get the Maglia Azzurra in a few moments. So all of the escapees at least get something out of this stage, ending with a rather surprising breakaway win!
Some minutes later, the peloton reaches the last kilometer as well, with Demare being led out by Madouas and Aregger. He's the only really fast sprinter in the first positions of the pack and will likely take 5th place today.
And so it happens. Arnaud Demare is easily the fastest from the pack, and what is a clear 5th place now probably would have been a clear win had the pack caught the breakaway!
However, maybe he was just so clearly today's top favorite that the other teams decided it's not worth chasing if they don't have a shot at the stage win anyway, hence not collaborating with Team Puma? We'll never know.
What we know, however, is the order behind the Frenchman, who finishes the race 3'28" behind today's winner:
6. Ivan Garcia Cortina
7. Jingbiao Zhao
8. Petr Vakoc
9. Salah Eddine Mraouni
10. Cyril Barthe
11. Alex Aranburu
12. Cameron Bayly
13. Artem Nych
14. Rein Taaramäe
15. Andrew Talansky
16. Tom Wirtgen
17. Simon Spilak
18. Kazushige Kuboki
19. Ryan Mullen
20. Jack Haig
Surprisingly, although many sprinters finished well inside the peloton, they didn't participate in the sprint. Probably they just didn't have much left.
And Suryadi, who was the first to lose contact? He finishes 20'44" after the stage winner and easily makes the time limit, with about 17 minutes to spare. But he'll already be dreading tomorrow's stage...
But for now, let's talk about today - or rather, let the pictures talk - the pictures of the victory celebration!
First of all, let's applaud Davide Gabburo! He makes it the 2nd straight Italian stage win of this Giro d'Italia - with only 15 Italians on the startlist, we can say that they're pretty efficient!
He was the one who initiated today's breakaway, and thanks to the pack not pushing hard and with some help of his teammate Mikel Bizkarra - finishing 3rd - he won the sprint against Kamil Malecki. Congratulations!
But nonetheless, the young Pole steps onto the podium - to take the Maglia Rosa! Thanks to Gazelle having delivered the best TTT performance of the teams represented in today's breakaway, he now leads 23" ahead of stage winner Davide Gabburo and 33" ahead of Mikel Bizkarra.
Budenieks in 4th place is still within one minute (+ 43"), whereas former leader Appollonio has dropped to 5th (+ 3'21") - a gap that might allow Kamil Malecki to keep the jersey for some more days!
And we already mentioned it, Kamil Malecki is still pretty young - U25 to be precise - so he leads this standing ahead of Kristaps Budenieks, and ahead of Hsuan Ping Hsu, who will wear the Maglia Bianca in his stead tomorrow.
Although he didn't participate in the sprint today, Davide Appollonio keeps the Maglia Ciclamino - three points ahead of Arnaud Demare, who must be really frustrated about this missed opportunity for taking both the stage win and this jersey. On a positive note, he might get another chance tomorrow.
Kamil Malecki is 3rd, thanks to the combined points of the intermediate and final sprints.
He was the slowest in the final sprint on the flat, but he won both uphill sprints - meaning Kristaps Budenieks takes over the Maglia Azzurra from Setiawa! With his 16 points, he leads 6 points ahead of Kamil Malecki and Mikel Bizkarra, who share the 2nd place.
And finally - as you probably expected - Isostar - Specialized are the new leaders in the team standings, having two riders in the winning breakaway today. They now lead 2'59" ahead of Gazelle, 3'32" ahead of Evonik - ELKO, and more than 6 minutes ahead of the rest! How long will they be able to hold onto this position?
With these pictures, we get to the end of today's live show from stage 3 of the 2020 Giro d'Italia. We likely have three happy managers and a very unhappy one tonight - let's see what tomorrow's hilly stage brings! See you then!
Giro d'Italia 
