Giro 2024: Preview stage 3 to Fossano – First sprint opportunity for Kooij, Jakobsen and co?

After a difficult opening weekend, the Giro d’Italia continues on Monday with the first chance for the sprinters. Only on the third day do the sprinters get their first chance at victory. In a stage of 166 kilometers, the peloton heads south towards Fossano. Will there be a Dutch or Belgian stage victory? CyclingFlits looks ahead.

Trail

From Biella, near the climb to Oropa, the teams and riders travel by bus to Novara, the starting point of stage three. From here a relatively flat ride of 166 kilometers begins. A total of 831 vertical meters must be overcome.

The starting point, which is located between Milan and Turin, has often been a passage city during the Tour of Italy. The three-week race finished there twice and both times a Belgian won. In 1968 Eddy Merckx was the best in the northern Italian town. In 2021, Tim Merlier was the fastest in the second stage, ahead of home riders Giacomo Nizzolo and Elia Viviani. That same year the city once again served as a passage point. That was during the nineteenth stage; Previous winner Merlier had already left.

In the first part of the ride, the peloton encounters one categorized climb. The Lu (4.3 km at 3.2%) may hardly have a name (that’s why the mountain doesn’t have one) and is therefore referred to as a fourth category climb. The top is 108 kilometers from the finish. There is also an intermediate sprint in the first half of the stage.

Just over 22 kilometers before the finish, the second and last intermediate sprint of the day is in the town of Cherasco. In 2013, this was the finish line of a stage of the Giro. Then Mark Cavendish was the fastest in a sprint ahead of (also) Nizzolo and Luka Mezgec.

In contrast to 2013, the finish line of the third stage of this year’s Giro d’Italia is more than 20 kilometers further south, in Fossano. The Italian municipality has just over 24,000 inhabitants and previously served as the finishing place in the Tour of Italy. That was in 1993, when the Italian Adriano Baffi won. The five-time Giro stage winner was the fastest in a bunch sprint.

Now that the finish is again in Fossano after 31 years, the question is whether there will be another bunch sprint. In the last kilometers there is one ascending strip of 1.8 kilometers at 4.2 percent. Good positioning seems to be a must for the contenders for the day’s victory when entering the finish area. Will a fast man win again after a sprint in Fossano?

Monday May 6, Stage 3: Novara – Fossano (166 km)
Start: 1:10 p.m
Finish: between 5:05 PM and 5:20 PM

What time are the important passages?
Top Lu (4th cat): between 2:35 PM and 2:45 PM
Intermediate sprint Masio: between 3:00 PM and 3:15 PM
Intermediate sprint Cherasco: between 4:30 PM and 4:55 PM

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Favorites

After two stages with many altitude meters, the sprinters can indulge themselves on Monday. With over 800 meters of elevation it is not too bad, although the final phase is made a bit more difficult by two short hills, at Cherasco (1.2 km at 6.1%) and in Fossano (1.8 km at 4.2%). yourself. That will get in the way of some fast men, but nothing stands in the way of a bunch sprint. There are several contenders from the Netherlands and Belgium.

Want to win at the first sprint opportunity in a grand tour? Then you have to join Tim Merlier are! In the 2021 Giro d’Italia, the West Flemish rider scored with his first sprint opportunity and later that year he also won the first sprint stage of the Tour de France. Since then, Merlier has not won a stage in a Grand Tour, but this year he is the absolute leader for Soudal Quick-Step, with Jozef Cerny, Luke Lamperti and Bert Van Lerberghe as train. In this sprint field, Merlier is intrinsically probably the fastest sprinter, but that is no guarantee of success. If Merlier wins, it will be his eighth victory of 2024. In the UAE Tour, he already showed that he can win at the highest level against the best sprinters. There he won three times, including against Olav Kooij.

The same one Olav Kooy is the next favorite we want to tick. He is Visma |’s advanced pawn Lease a Bike has a serious sprint train with Edoardo Affini, Jan Tratnik, Tim van Dijke and Christophe Laporte. For The Numansdorp Cheetah it is his baptism of fire in a sprint of a grand tour. In terms of speed, Kooij now belongs to the world top, he must be able to survive the altitude meters in the final and he is also very strong in positioning. However, he suffered several abrasions in a fall in the second stage. “But tomorrow we will leave again in good spirits,” the Dutchman sounded hopeful afterwards.

We find even more sprint violence from the Low Countries at DSM-firmenich PostNL, that Fabio Jakobsen appointed as leader. After a difficult spring, he wiped the clean sheet in the Tour of Turkey. It remained with that one victory, while his lead-out Tobias Lund Andresen then won three more stages. A few times Andresen survived a hilly ride in Turkey, but a few times Jakobsen also gave the chance to his Danish pacer. In that respect, it is still a guess as to Jakobsen’s form at the highest level, especially against riders like Merlier and Kooij. But if Jakobsen is well placed at 300 meters, he will be close to victory. If not, keep an eye out for the man who scored the Turkish hat-trick.

A team that will leave its mark on the sprint stages will be Lidl-Trek. The American formation has with Jonathan Milan the defending champion of the purple points jersey at home. Last season, the Italian won a stage and won the purple with many places of honor. This year he hopes to go for more stage victories, where he will have to be guided by strong men such as Daan Hoole, Jasper Stuyven, Edward Theuns and his regular lead-out Simone Consonni. A strong train that should help Milan get going. Milan should be able to survive the hills in the final phase, making him a serious contender for a stage win.

All around Kaden Groves it has been pretty quiet in the run-up to the Giro. Especially for a rider who won the Giro (one stage victory) and the Vuelta (three stage victories and the points classification) last year. Admittedly, Groves is among the names already mentioned in flat sprints, but he should certainly be able to survive a difficult ride. Things didn’t go well for Groves this spring either, so we have to wait and see what he is capable of. Edward Planckaert and Timo Kielich help him through the final. The ProTeam of Israel-Premier Tech has some outsiders for the sprint stages, with Ethan Vernon and Hugo Hofstetter. We give the Briton, who came over from Soudal Quick-Step last winter, more of a chance in this stage.

Movistar goes for stage success in the flatter stages with Fernando Gaviria. Plenty of experience in the Giro for the Colombian, who has won five stages in six previous participations. In 2017 he also won the points classification, but those times are already far behind us. This year Gaviria only managed to win in the Tour Colombia, so we don’t expect miracles from him in this Giro. Maybe a 500 meter sprint? Another sprinter for whom it is unclear how he compares in this sprint field: Caleb Ewan of Jayco AlUla. The Australian won a stage in Oman, but there has been no good result since March. So we’ll have to wait and see… With Max Walscheid and Luka Mezgec he has two strong pacers.

For Tudor, a stage win is a big goal on their debut in a Grand Tour. The biggest candidate for this is Alberto Dainese, who has already booked stage victories in the Giro on behalf of Team DSM in recent years. With Matteo Trentin, Alexander Krieger and Marius Mayrhofer, Dainese has a big train. In a flat final, Dainese can always come out of a box like a jack of all trades. Also take into account Phil Bauhaus at Bahrain Victorious, who is still looking for a first stage victory in a Grand Tour. This year he already won a stage in Tirreno-Adriatico, so he can do it at the highest level. UAE Emirates does not have a train for its sprinter. Juan Sebastian Molano has to make it himself in a team that is completely at the service of Tadej Pogačar.

BORA-hansgrohe was initially going to start with Sam Welsford, but the poor run-up cost the Australian the lead. His lead-out Danny van Poppel has been drafted and will therefore get its own chance. The Dutchman is a master in positioning and secretly still fast. “Then it’s up to me. And why not? I am a much better rider than three years ago,” Van Poppel said. “After a difficult race I can win. The team believes in it, and I believe in it.” In the same category we include spring revelation Laurence Pithie (Groupama-FDJ), Biniam Girmay (Intermarché-Wanty) and Giovanni Lonardi (Polti Kometa). Contenders in the hilly sprint stages, but in Fossano it seems to be for the pure sprinters.

Arkéa-B&B Hotels has two fast men in David Dekker and Jenthe Biermans who will be happy with a nice place of honor. The same applies to Max Kanter (Astana Qazaqstan), who recently won his first professional victory in the Tour of Turkey on a difficult finish. Davide Ballerini is also participating in the Kazakh team. We would also like to mention Stanislaw Aniolkowski (Cofidis) and Andrea Vendrame (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale).

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Favorites according to WielerFlits
****Tim Merlier
*** Jonathan Milan, Olav Kooij
**Fabio Jakobsen, Kaden Groves, Alberto Dainese
* Tobias Lund Andresen, Danny van Poppel, Phil Bauhaus, Ethan Vernon

Weather and TV

It promises to be a changeable day in the area around the starting place Novara and finishing place Fossano. The temperature runs accordingly Weatheronline up to 18 degrees Celsius, but it is cloudy and there is a serious chance of precipitation from the afternoon. That could have an influence on the final. The wind comes from an easterly direction at force 2.

The third stage of the Giro d’Italia can be seen live from start to finish at Eurosport 1 and the online channels of Eurosport.nl and Discovery+. Jan Hermsen and Michael Boogerd will provide commentary from 1 p.m. and will then be alternated by Jeroen Vanbelleghem and Karsten Kroon.

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