The 24-year-old Frenchman gained three places in the overall standings on the race’s second uphill finish.
Monday brought one of the shortest road stages of this 80th edition, which travelled from San Maurizio Canavese to Ceres. Only 134.6 kilometers and two classified climbs, including the one at the finish, were on the menu, and the peloton has quite an easy job when it came to controlling and bringing back the four-man group that snapped the elastic in the opening kilometers.
It came as no surprise that the story of this stage was written in the last 200 meters, which averaged 6%, bringing into the spotlight a nice mix of fast men, puncheurs and even general classification riders. David Gaudu (Groupama-FdJ) sprinted to victory, while Gianmarco Garofoli was the first T-Rex Quick-Step rider home, just like on the opening stage.
In the general classification, Valentin Paret-Peintre made an important jump and is now tenth going into the fourth stage – the last to start on Italian soil, and the longest of this year, for that matter – which will take the peloton over the famous Alpine climbs Col de Montgenèvre and Col du Lautaret before a finish on the flat in the French city of Voiron.
Photo credit: ©Dario Belingheri / Getty Images
