Angel Vicioso wins third stage of 2011 Tour of Giro d’ltalia – Cycling news
Angel Vicioso of the Androni Giocattoli team won the third stage of 2011 Tour of Giro d’ltalia between Reggio Emilia and Rapallo.
The race was overshadowed by the tragic death of the Belgian cyclist Wouter Weylandt of the Leopard Trek team.
In the first climb of the race, Weylandt crashed heavily on the descent. He was lying on the ground and bleeding heavily from his head. Before administering CPR treatment, paramedics cut off Weylandt helmet.
It was too late for him as he had already expired on his way to the medical facility. Later, after the completion of the stage, the dreadful news was announced of the rider’s death. All the ceremonies and conferences were cancelled out of respect for Weylandt.
The stage winner Angel Vicioso took a total of 3 hours, 57 minutes and 38 seconds to cover the distance of 173 kilometres. The race leader David Millar was in second place while Pablo Lastras Garcia of the Movistar team finished third.
With only 32 kilometres to go, the group of four riders Bart De Clercq, Gianluca Brambilla, Pavel Brutt and Davide Ricci Bitti made the first break. All of them gained six minutes as advantage over the peloton.
After 78 kilometres of the race, the group of four riders’ advantage had dropped but the Lampre-ISD team was still leading. They were followed by Mark Cavendish, Alberto Contador and the entire Saxo Bank-SunGard team.
With 60 kilometres to go, Mark Cavendish suffered a technical problem. He had to pick up his repaired bike and with the help of his teammate, he managed to rejoin the peloton without any difficulty.
When the race entered in Passo del Bocco with 133.3 kilometres to go, Brambilla was followed by Pavel Brutt. The Italian took the mountain jersey while the Russian was in second place.
After the incident of Weylandt’s tragic death, the group was unable to stay away and the first rider was dropped, including Cavendish. At the day of the second climb, LeMevel and Lastras broke out to take points and they were joined by the group of other
two cyclists Daniele Moreno and Angel Vicioso.
The groups of five cyclists were never in control of the situation as they passed under the flame rouge and were clear after the final kilometres. Millar opened the sprint but Vicioso caught him back and took a victory ahead of the other riders.
David Millar took a lead in the overall classification with a timing of 10 hours, 4 minutes and 29 seconds. The stage winner Vicioso was in second place 7 seconds behind Millar.
The next stage will start in Genova Quarto dei Mille and end in Livorno. All the riders will cover the distance of 216 kilometres during the stage.
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