Giro d'Italia 2023: Michael Matthews wins third stage and Evenepoel remains leader

The third stage of the Giro d'Italia 2023 followed the expected script, and despite an early breakaway, rain and even a 3rd class climb, the day was rather uneventful for spectators. But it was all settled with a thrilling finish in which Australian Michael Matthews (Jayco-AlUla) took the win after an agonising uphill sprint with Mads Pedersen (Trek-Segafredo).

Michael Matthews wins stage three of the Giro 2023 in Melfi

The day started again with a breakaway by the Corratec team led by the Serbian Veljko Stojnic and the Italian Alexander Konychev. It was an adventure in which they spent more than 4 hours and even had up to 7 minutes of advantage over the peloton. But the breakaway was neutralised with 36 kilometres to go, at which point the favourites, such as Evenepoel's Soudal, began to take the lead ahead of the special intermediate sprint at Rapolla. Evenepoel beat Roglic and took 3 valuable seconds to maintain his overall lead.

Intermediate Sprint - Rapolla @rogla VS @EvenepoelRemco #Giro #GirodItalia pic.twitter.com/hva7nUEE7i

— Giro d'Italia (@giroditalia) May 8, 2023

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The stage was decided in a thrilling finish where Australian Michael Matthews sprinted to first punish Denmark's Mads Pedersen and then take his third stage win of the Giro d'Italia. Matthews had not won at the Giro since 2015 and the win marks the 40th of his career.

Stage 3 Classification

1. Michael Matthews (Team Jayco-AlUla) 05:01:41
2. Mads Pedersen (Trek-Segafredo) +00
3. Kaden Gorves (Alpecin-Deceuninck) +00
4. Vincenzo Albanese (EOLO-Kometa Cycling Team) +00
5. Stefano Oldani (Alpecin-Deceuninck) + 00
6. Sven Erik Bystrom (Intermarché-Circus-Wanty) +00
7. Primoz Roglic (Jumbo-Visma) +00
8. Simone Velasco (Astana Qazaqstan Team) +00
9. Toms Skujins (Trek-Segafredo) +00
10. Andrea Vendrame (AG2R Citroën Team) +00

General Classification

1. Remco Evenepoel (Soudal-QuickStep)
2. Joao Almeida (UAE Team Emirates) +32’’
3. Primoz Roglic (Jumbo-Visma) +44’’
4. Stefan Kung (Groupama-FDJ) +46’’
5. Geraint Thomas (INEOS Grenadiers) +58’’
6. Alekxandr Vlasov (Bora-Hansgrohe) +58’’
7. Tao Geoghegan Hart (Ineos Grenadier) +1’02’’
8. Michael Matthews (Team Jayco-AlUla) +1’02’’
9. Jay Vine (UAE Team Emirates) +1’08’’
10. Mads Pedersen (Trek Segrafredo) +1’18’’