Michael Matthews finished off a flawless Team Jayco AlUla performance in stunning style as he sprinted to glory on stage three of the Giro d’Italia.
The win marks a spectacular return to the Italian Grand Tour for the Australian, with today’s result taking his tally to three stage wins at La Corsa Rosa and marks the 19th triumph for GreenEDGE Cycling at the Giro.
The squad made their intentions clear from the opening kilometres as they moved to the head of the peloton to keep the gap to a two-rider breakaway in check. Debutant Campbell Stewart and the experienced Michael Hepburn did a mountain of work on the flat, before Italian duo Alessandro De Marchi and Filippo Zana took over on the first climb of the day.
Italian champion Zana set a fierce tempo on the cat.3 ascent, shredding the peloton to pieces and distancing a host of Matthews’ fast finishing rivals. Callum Scotson then took over on the final climb, piling on more pressure while Matthews sat comfortably in the wheels.
After guiding him into the finale, it was then over to Matthews to finish things off in style as the 32-year-old used all his experience and race craft to launch his sprint early, catching his competitors by surprise as he raced away to take his first Giro d’Italia victory since 2015.
Michael Matthews:
“Honestly, I’m just speechless, what I’ve been through these last two months, to come back with a victory for the team, it’s amazing.
We rode all day today and my teammates were fully committed for me to win the stage. I mean, I don’t have words at the moment, it’s been such a rollercoaster this year and to be already on stage three with a stage win it is all I can ever dream of.
I heard that Pedersen was dropped on the climb so I was hoping that he would be a little bit pinned for the sprint. I knew I just needed to go a little bit early and get the jump on them and yeah, it worked out.
It’s been a rollercoaster for me, so I just came here to this Giro to have fun, enjoy riding my bike and enjoy being with my teammates and today it was such a team effort that win. That was for the boys.”
David McPartland (Sport Director):
“Today was super teamwork from all of the boys, they were incredible. We took control from the start of the day on one of the longest stages of the Giro and along with Trek we controlled from start to finish.
The boys pushed the pace on the final climb and that was the plan, we knew all the details of that final climb, we had identified it as an ideal finish for Michael and it was more just a case of if guys like Mads Pedersen, Magnus Cort and Kaden Groves would make it.
We wanted to force it right from the bottom, use that final climb and we did that. The boys were super, all of them. We timed and used all our resources perfectly today, it doesn’t happen always and we need to enjoy the victory and the way it was done today.
Michael finished the work off perfectly, even coming through the final technical part we managed it perfectly and the victory for Michael is a victory for the whole team.”
Stage 3
Result
01 M. Matthews 5:01:41
02 M. Pedersen +0:00
03 K. Groves +0:00
