Two out of two for Mads Pedersen who also regains the pink jersey of the Giro d'Italia

Last day in Albanian lands for the Giro d'Italia, which bid farewell to this country with a stage of rolling terrain and a flat finish after a tough climb, where Mads Pedersen once again showed that he is the sprinter who climbs the best in the race, allowing him to have an extra advantage towards the finish line where the Dane once again dominated perfectly thanks to the excellent work of Lidl-Trek.

Mads Pedersen makes good use of Lidl-Trek's work to claim his second stage victory in the 2025 Giro d'Italia

160 kilometers, starting and finishing in the coastal city of Vlora, was the menu that the 2025 Giro d'Italia had prepared to say goodbye to Albanian lands. A deceptive stage as in its first part it headed inland, traversing all day through rolling terrain that culminated in the Qafa e Llogarase pass, a 10.5 km ascent at a constant gradient between 7 and 8%, in other words, an already demanding climb.

In the first part, five cyclists were protagonists: Alessandro Tonelli, Chris Hamilton, Mark Donovan, Lorenzo Germani, and Joshua Tarling, whom the peloton allowed to break away but without giving them too much freedom thanks to the control of the race shared between Lidl-Trek and Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe.

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Arriving at the foot of the pass, they barely had a minute, an advantage that would soon disappear when Pello Bilbao, Lorenzo Fortunato, and James Knox attacked from the peloton, quickly catching the escapees thanks to the pace set by a completely unleashed Fortunato who even dropped Knox.

They crested with just 50 seconds with 37 kilometers to go. However, as Pello Bilbao himself confessed at the finish, the "difficult to interpret" asphalt did not allow him to descend with the necessary confidence to consolidate the gap, so at the end of the descent, with still over 20 kilometers to go, they were soon caught by a peloton that Lidl-Trek had led up the entire climb, although in this part many riders managed to return.

Only the outcome of a sprint remained to be known, which was reached after a really tough 10 kilometers, raising questions about where the discourse of the ACP, SafeR, and the UCI is when needed after three days in which really dangerous sections and situations have been seen.

Therefore, Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe did not speculate and took the lead of the group to safely bring Primoz Roglic to the last three kilometers, where Lidl-Trek regained the lead, with just two lead-out men at this point, to bring Mads comfortably to 150 meters from the finish line where the Dane launched the sprint right at the chosen point, and although Corbin Strong came out of his wheel and seemed from the deceptive front camera that he could overtake, the reality is that Pedersen dominated the sprint effortlessly, allowing him to achieve his second victory in this 2025 Giro d'Italia. Orluis Aular repeated in third place, once again without any chance but adding valuable points for Movistar.

A victory that granted Mads Pedersen 10 seconds of time bonus, which, after the great time trial performed yesterday, allowed the Dane to once again wear the pink jersey, with the full approval of Primoz Roglic, who removes a responsibility from himself for the first week after this brief Albanian introduction and the rest day that awaits the peloton tomorrow as they return to the boot.

Stage 3 Classification

1. Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek) 3h49'47''
2. Corbin Strong (Israel-PremierTech) +00''
3. Orluis Aular (Movistar Team) +00''
4. Brandon Rivera (INEOS Grenadiers) +00''
5. Edoardo Zambanini (Bahrain-Victorious) +00''
6. Stefano Oldani (Cofidis) +00''
7. Andrea Vendrame (Decathlon-AG2R La Mondiale) +00''
8. Martin Marcellusi (VF Group-Bardiani CSF-Faizane) +00''
9. Filippo Fiorelli (VF Group-Bardiani CSF-Faizane) +00''
10. Christian Scaroni (XDS-Astana) +00''

General Classification

1. Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek) 7h42'10''
2. Primoz Roglic (Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe) +09''
3. Mathias Vacek (Lidl-Trek) +14''
4. Brandon McNulty (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) +21''
5. Juan Ayuso (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) +25''
6. Isaac del Toro (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) +26''
7. Max Poole (Picnic-PostNL) +33''
8. Antonio Tiberi (Bahrain-Victorious) +34''
9. Michael Storer (Tudor) +36''
10. Giulio Pellizzari (Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe) +40''