Stage 3

The road

At the start

Hungary's last day, and the sprinters'

Simon Yates flew up the ramp to the castle yesterday and took eleven seconds out of Mathieu van der Poel, who keeps pink by exactly that margin, with Tom Dumoulin third. None of it matters much across 201 flat kilometres along Lake Balaton, broken only by a fourth-category blip thirteen from home. This is the Giro's first bunch sprint, and Mark Cavendish is riding the race for the first time since 2013.

How it was won

1. 1132 km to go

   Bais leads out Tagliani

   The same two Androni riders from stage 1 are up the road again, and Bais dutifully leads Tagliani out for full points. Behind, Gaviria and Démare take the ciclamino scraps with Cavendish nowhere near.

2. 213 km to go

   A scrap for the blue jersey

   The only lump of the day, barely a rise above Lake Balaton. Eenkhoorn uses the grass to move up and attacks; Zabel, who played this exact trick better the day before, leads out the dash but Eenkhoorn gets there first.

3. 3At the line

   Cavendish, nine years later

   Ballerini through the roundabout, Van Lerberghe to the flamme rouge, then Mørkøv pulls Cavendish through the middle as QuickStep are almost swamped on the left. A 300-metre sprint, and a sixteenth Giro stage win for a man who last rode the race in 2013.

The result