Just three days after the start of the Giro d’Italia and Geraint Thomas’ hopes of adding a pink jersey to his collection are almost over after the rider of Ineos Grenadiers crashed on Monday in the neutral zone of the 150 km stage from Enna to the summit of Etna
After hitting a water bottle that had rolled through the peloton before the official start, Thomas had managed to cover most of the stage showing little sign of distress, although once the Welsh has reached the decisive climb of the day, the effects of the crash soon shown
After initially falling to the back of the peloton, Thomas, assisted by teammates Filippo Ganna and Ben Swift, quickly fell to the rear as rival teams applied pressure to the group containing the main protagonists the battle for maglia rosa, the leader’s pink jersey
In a team statement, sporting director Matteo Tosatto confirmed what had happened to Thomas who arrived in Italy in good shape After finishing fourth at the recent World Time Trial Championships, Thomas was considered as one of the favorites
« About a kilometer or two after the neutralized start, G [Geraint] took a can [water bottle] in his front wheel and crashed. At first he was in pain but as the scene continued, he felt better, « said TosattoÂ
« However, towards the end in the last 45 kilometers, the pace picked up and the climbs got steeper – he had pain and had to complete the stage at his own pace
After crossing the finish line for more than 12 minutes with stage winner Jonathan Caceido (EF Pro Cycling), Thomas is unlikely to be able to fight for the overall if he even had to make the line start of the fourth 140 km stage on Tuesday from Catania to Villafranco Tirrena
Although his compatriot Simon Yates did not suffer a crash, the result for rider Mitchelton-Scott, who also started the Giro as one of the favorites, was also grim. After being dropped about five miles from the summit, Yates fell to 25th overall, 3min 46sec behind new leader Joao Almeida (Deceuninck-Quick Step)
A year after compatriot Richard Carapaz became the first Ecuadorian to win a grand tour in Italy, Ecuadorian national champion Caceido claimed his first solo victory in Europe after spending the day in the breakaway
Caceido crossed the finish line ahead of Giovanni Visconti (Vini Zabu-KTM) and Harm Vanhoucke (Lotto-Soudal) to move to second place overall behind Almeida who removed the maglia rosa from Ganna’s shoulders
Geraint Thomas (Ineos Grenadiers), who crashed in the neutral zone ahead of today’s stage after appearing to hit a rogue water bottle (see tweet below), finished the ‘stage, but it was more than 12 minutes on the stage winner Jonathan Caicedo Except a series of miracles â ???? or disasters, depending on your point of view â ???? it’s the end of the Welshman’s overall standings challenge in this year’s race
We received images of Thomas’ crash from Scordia CT Very unhappy with the bogus #Giro picTwittercom / q41L679zP2
Thomas lost 50 â ???? FIFTY â ???? place in the general classification and is now ahead of new race leader Joao Almeida by 11min 17sec
Apologies for the delay, my abacus was playing Anyway, after looking at the numbers, I can confirm that Joao Almeida (Deceuninck-Quick Step) is the new leader of the race, while Jonathan Caicedo (EF Pro Cycling) is second at the same time as the Portuguese, Pello Bilbao (Bahrain-McLaren) is third Simon Yates has dropped 17 places in the general classification and will start on Wednesday fourth stage at 3min 46sec from Almeida, a little less three minutes behind Vincenzo Nibali (Trek-Segafredo)
Simon Yates crosses the line more than four minutes behind stage winner Jonathan Caicedo and around 3 minutes adrift of Vincenzo Nibali Cross-wise his jersey was unzipped despite the horrible conditions This, for me, would suggest that he suffers from some kind of illness
Harm Vanhoucke (Lotto-Soudal) takes third place On the watch now for Simon Yates who has wasted quite a bit of time here on what has been a day of punishment for the British contenders
Jonathan Caicedo, the Ecuadorian national road and time trial champion, wins a memorable stage at the top of Etna One year after Richard Carapaz, the Ecuadorians are back
Jonathan Caicedo will win this stage, but will the EF Pro Cycling rider change this controversial jersey for a pretty pink jersey?
Jonathan Castroviejo is overtaken by Vincenzo Nibali’s group  Jonathan Caicedo still leaves the scene for a minute or two
Domenico Pozzovivo attacks the steepest parts of this cruel and cruel climb, but he is unable to let down the rest of this quintet
Vincenzo Nibali has failed to get rid of his rivals Jakob Fuglsang looks strong, Domenico Pozzovivo (NTT) is there as is Steven Kruijswijk (Jumbo-Visma) while Rafal Majka completes the group of five riders in the general classification
Simon Yates is about three minutes behind stage leader Jonathan Caicedo and 1min 20sec on Vincenzo Nibali It’s not ideal for Bury’s rider, but it’s not the end of the world
Jonathan Caicedo leads the stage,   Giovanni Visconti trailing just ahead   Jonathan Castroviejo who has Harm Vanhoucke (Lotto Soudal) for company Wilco Kelderman (Sunweb) flew ahead of the pleoton, the Dutchman has strong air It’s raining near the top here and quite windy Maybe a headwind near the finish line
Jonathan Caicedo is the only leader of this stage He started stage 1min 35sec in the general classification, can he ride pink here?
While his teammates Ineos Grenadiers are busy on the road, the Basque rider Jonathan Castroviejo has taken the lead in pursuit of Jonathan Caicedo and Giovanni Visconti A little back the attacks start to flow I think he is careful to say that the Giro d’Italia exploded today on the slopes of Etna
Simon Yates is 50secs behind the main group containing Vincenzo Nibali et al The pair at the front leads Nibali by 1min 28sec
Stage directors Jonathan Caicedo and Giovanni Visconti are holding on, their advantage is 1min 45sec Geraint Thomas has lost five minutes now, so I think we can assume his Giro d’Italia challenge is dead in the water The team’s cars have now passed Simon Yates, which would suggest that the gap between him and the main group of contenders is reasonably largeÂ
Tao Geoghegan Hart is out of his saddle, following in the wheel of Matteo Fabbro as the 25-year-old Italian gives a rhythm injection Further, Simon Yates was abandoned with Tony Gallopin (Ag2r-La Mondiale) Good grief, what is happening today?
Matteo Fabbro leads the field, Â Tao Geoghegan Hart driving just ahead of UK national road champion Ben Swift Movistar, Trek-Segafredo and Jumbo-Visma are also on the sharp end, as are Simon Yates
Matteo Fabbro (Bora-Hansgrohe) rode in the front of the field for about a minute before young Italia sits Back up the road and Jonathan Caicedo and Giovanni Viscontin work well together By the way, Caicedo is the Ecuadorian national champion of the road and the time trial
Sir Bradley Wiggins, former teammate of Geraint Thomas, just spoke on Europsport saying he expected this to be the end of Thomas’ challenge
« We explained how favorite he was for this race It shows you how fragile the Giro d’Italia can be It’s the third day and we’ve seen him struggle a bit He’s got Filippo Ganna and Ben Swift with him, but the effort these guys put in is out of proportion to what G [Geraint] is doing
« The way his jersey is ripped: it’s clearly more than physical I wouldn’t be surprised if he broke a rib or something like that He’ll go through anything, he’ll go through pain C ‘is clearly the end of his Giro, it’s very abnormal It’s quite difficult to watch We expected a lot from him this race and it shows you how delicate it is and it is never done Geraint Thomas â ???? looks like his Giro d’Italia is overâ ????
A few moments after the brief interview, we see Thomas come back to talk to his team car Jonathan Caicedo and Giovanni Visconti’s lead over the peloton fell to 2min 16sec, while Thomas is still 2min 10sec on the road
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The breakaway is in tatters, Jonathan Caicedo (EF Pro Cycling) and Giovanni Visconti (Vini Zabu-KTM) remain the only leaders Everything is changing now in the front of the peloton, with Bora-Hansgrohe taking matters in hand, hoping to put their climber Rafal Majka in a position to fight for the stage and gain precious seconds
Geraint Thomas has teammates Rohan Dennis, Salvatore Puccio and Filippo Ganna for the company, but his face is a picture of pain as he struggles in this climb Presumably, if Thomas can’t come back today or, indeed, continue the race, then Tao Geoghegan Hart will become the team leader?
Trek-Segafredo now leads the peloton, Astana and Jakob Fuglsang are seated on the left shoulder of Vincenzo Nibali’s boys Jumbo-Visma is there, just as Deceuninck-Quick Step Mitchelton-Scott has retreated further
There are mixed reports, some say he crashed a second time and landed on a hip, others deny them.Either way, the Welshman is working around 30 seconds at the rear of the pleoton which is about to hit the bottom of the decisive climb
Other reports are coming in from Italy saying Geraint Thomas has crashed again He is currently trailing the pack, but with a number of key protagonists seated up front he will find it difficult to challenge here today
Ben Swift got on the road, leaving Filippo Ganna to guide Geraint Thomas on this long and painful trail to the top of Etna Higher up the road, Sicilian Vincenzo Nibali has a group of Trek-Segafredo riders who hammers him Will the Messina shark bite today?
Geraint Thomas fell at the back of the peloton He has Ben Swift and Filippo Ganna for company The pre-race favorite seems to be suffering and he has been abandoned It could be his Giro d’Italia going up in smoke on the lower slopes of EtnaÂ
Deceuninck-Quick Step has a few riders at the head of the peloton, today riding Portuguese Joao Almeida who started the day in second place overall, a second ahead of Geraint Thomas Tony Martin (Jumbo-Visma) has just started a mini-hissy cut It looked like he was unhappy with his teammates who seemed unable to hold his wheel
For the second day in a row, a dog wandered in the middle of the road As the peloton slowed down to avoid hitting the dog, Stéphane Rossetto (Cofidis Solutions Crédits) took advantage of most of the situation and rolled over the front Not quite sure what to do here, but we’ll find out soon
An exhausted Astana team – they have already lost Miguel à ?? ngel López and Aleksandr Vlasov â ???? have a few riders near the head of the peloton, maglia rosa Filippo Ganna sits in neutral on horseback on behalf of Ineos Grenadiers Trek-Segafredo is there for Vincenzo Nibali and Bora-Hansgrohe also has numbers, probably today for Rafal Majka As the road goes up the runners get spit out from behind
Josip Rumac (Androni Giocattoli-Sidermec) just opened his points classification account, taking the lion’s share in the intermediate sprint at Zafferana Etnea Although there is only one classified climb today , the 18Trail of 8 km on Etna at an average gradient of 66%, there is a series of small, delicate and trying digs that will start to bite
Yukiya Arashiro (Bahrain-McLaren) and Arnaud Démarine (Groupama-FDJ) were seen just by the side of the road, not too sure if this was the result of an accident or separate mechanical issues
There have been a few spots of rain on the roads in Sicily, but so far paradise has not opened, given the state of the roads it is a blessing Like everyone who has been in southern Italy can attest, the roads aren’t the best in the world TV footage just showed ominous craters in a corner to the left If a pint-sized climber like Domenico Pozzovivo entered one of them, we may never see them again The advance of the break is five minutes
The breakaway increased their lead over the peloton to 5min 25sec, but Mitchelton-Scott seems to have a bit between his teeth.They are surely hoping to put their overall candidate Simon Yates in a position to fight for the stage victory today? Remember, the Bury-born driver is also hoping to start nibbling away the advantage Geraint Thomas currently has over him. Â
Interesting to see Thomas De Gendt (Lotto-Soudal) positioned in the center of the peloton, just off the right shoulder of the Mitchelton-Scott boys who continue to control things in the peloton Presumably, he works on behalf of Carl Fredrik Hagen today The Norwegian climber who will join the Israeli Start-up Nation next year, incidentally, made his grand tour debut at Vuelta a España last year at the age of 27, he is now 29 years old
Joe Dombrowski (UAE Team Emirates) seems to have broken his chain, while Matteo Spreafico (Vini Zabu-KTM) Â and Patrick Gamper (Bora-Hansgrohe) also had mechanical problems The breakaway approaches the zone of food
Decently sized crowds today as the peloton weave their way through a plaza The escapees work well together, hanging on as they move closer and closer to Mount Etna
Just saw Geraint Thomas a few minutes ago If you take a closer look you can see that he ripped his jersey and possibly the left leg of his shorts There doesn’t appear to be any cuts or abrasions on the left leg
 Not much going on at the moment, the breakaway holds its lead just below the five-minute mark
Mitchelton-Scott continues to roll up front, the Ineos Grenadiers hiding behind them, happy to let them do most of the work At least for now Mount Etna is shrouded in clouds At least I hope it’s a cloud and the volcano doesn’t rumble before today’s expected hostilities The breakaway lead dropped a few minutes ago, but it retreated again at nearly five minutes
Alberto Contador, who won on Etna during the visit of the Giro in 2011 â ???? yes it was later stripped of it after the whole steak debacle spoke on Eurosport The Spaniard believes that after today we should find out who packed their legs for the Giro and who left them at home
« This will be the first real test in the mountains for the favorites We saw some of these riders who have already lost time but we will see if it was due to the time trial or if they are not in good shape
« There will probably be a breakaway but I think Ineos Grenadiers will try to control the race and won’t let anyone go too far 18km with 6 A 6% incline – that will be the key to seeing who the candidates are to win this Giro and who really don’t have the legs to win The perfect place to attack are the last 4 kilometers where the slope is harder «
Mitchelton-Scott took control of the peloton today and the Australian team sets the pace at the front of the peloton Their British rider Simon Yates started eighth in the overall standings today, 26sec adrift of Geraint Thomas Being Given that there are still two time trials in this year’s Giro and Thomas is stronger against the clock than Yates, you would assume Mitchelton-Scott will aim to take what he can, when he can. , when the road rises By the way, the last time the Giro climbed Mount Etna – ???? in 2018 â ???? Mitchelton-Scott rider Esteban Chaves won the stage, while Yates finished second but also won his first maglia rosa
After a nervous start for Geraint Thomas (Ineos Grenadiers) who crashed in the neutral part of the stage, today’s stage started at 11 a.m.31h (BST) No one is 100% sure what happened to the Welshman who is the best-placed overall contender and one of the favorites in this year’s race, but according to some reports he is’ « good »
There was a bit of back and forth at the front, before a nine-man breakaway finally formed Mikkel Bjerg (UAE Team Emirates), Victor Campenaerts (NTT), Jonathan Caicedo (EF Pro Cycling), Lawson Craddock (EF Pro Cycling), Matthew Holmes (Lotto-Soudal), Josip Rumac (Androni Giocattoli-Sidermec), Francesco Romano (Bardiani-CSF-Faizane) and Giovanni Visconti (Vini Zabu-KTM) lead the stage from 4min 17sec
And welcome to our blog live from the third stage of the Giro d’Italia, the 150 km race from Enna to the finish at the first summit of the race to the top of Etna, the volcano that dominates the Sicilian landscape
After two days of racing today is expected to see the overall riders come forward Filippo Ganna (Ineos Grenadiers) will wear the maglia rosa today, although few would expect the Italian to keep this pink swimsuit
Likewise, Peter Sagan (Bora-Hansgrohe) will almost certainly lose his maglia azzurra the blue jersey as the leader of the mountain classification â ???? once the road climbs to the top of Etna
In summary, there will be big upheavals today when the pink jersey race starts properly The race started just over half an hour ago and our live coverage will start at 12 noon30h
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Giro d’Italia, Diego Ulissi, Geraint Thomas, Team INEOS
News from the world – GB – Geraint Thomas hopes in smoke while Simon Yates also loses time as Giro d’Italia bursts out on Etna
