Giro D'Italia 2008 : Stage 3 - Monday, May 12: Catania - Milazzo , 221km

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Stage 3

I can only hope that Cavendish takes this one. McEwen will be up there as well.

This is Cav's stage

Bennati looked to be in good form in Romandie. I've got him marked for the points competition.

Bennati looked to be in good form in Romandie. I've got him marked for the points competition.
first bunch kick?

is it a flat finish?

I'll go Cav. He has Greipel to help him out.

Bennati and Mcewen will be there and Forster too.

If it ends in a group sprint then I must go for Bennati.

first bunch kick?

is it a flat finish?
http://www.cyclingnews.com/road/2008/giro08/?id=stages/giro083

Looks like a flat finish to me. There is a small hill that ends 7km before the finish but it looks to be fairly minor and even Cavendish should be able to get over it:D

I think a bunch sprint is fairly certain. The cyclingnews guide at the top says that a sprint finish is expected on the next stage but that hill near the end could well see most of the sprinters go out the back. Then there is a long uphill finish (bit like stage 2), then a short uphill finish which i think will be too much for at least most of the sprinters. Therefore a number of the sprinter's teams are going to be all out to keep it together today to line up their man for the finish as it is their best chance today for quite a while. Bennati is my choice for today's stage:)


I'll go Cav. He has Greipel to help him out.

Bennati and Mcewen will be there and Forster too.

Bennati looked to be in good form in Romandie. I've got him marked for the points competition.And the winner is Bennati - well picked! :)

I'll go Cav. He has Greipel to help him out.

Greipel finished almost 8 minutes back. Does anyone know what happened? Did he crash at some point or lose touch on the hill and no make it back?

Both Cav and Greipel were in a crash, earlier in the stage. I cannot recall who else was in that one. They were not in the one that took out McGee.

If memory serves, Tinkoff is pretty good at creating crashes during the Giro. They wreaked havoc last year and certainly did their part in two of them today.

Greipel finished almost 8 minutes back. Does anyone know what happened? Did he crash at some point or lose touch on the hill and no make it back?Yes, he had a nasty crash. A Tinkoff rider took a right turn too fast, brushed the curb and bounced into the peloton bringing down quite a few riders. I think McGee is out of the Giro with a shoulder injury in one of the crashes today.

Nice win by Bennati. McGee's injury is unfortunate. :(

Nice win by Bennati. McGee's injury is unfortunate. :(

McGee didn't look good.... couldn't lie down on the stretcher because of his collarbone... looked to be in a lot of pain...... he was so injured he couldn't even pat down his helmet hair.... lot of crashes today..... most blame the shitty roads.... I guess EU money doesn't reach that far down in Italy !!! Farkin Southerners !

It's a double Aussie hit for CSC.

http://www.team-csc.com/ny_news.asp?n_id=1863

BOTH Bradley McGee AND Stuey have broken collarbones.

I caught some free video (bad feed, no audio) in time to see that crash. It did look like 2 CSC guys were involved.

Go Danilo.

What is it with Aussie collarbones? Does drinking lots of beer weaken them or something? Cadel breaks his collarbone when his shoe cleat slips off the pedal.

Sad to see McGee going out that way.

The Tinkoff rider took the corner far too wide - went in to a hedge, bike bounces back out on the road and McGee takes a tumble for his troubles and is out.
Cruel luck.

I was hoping that he would repeat his great Giro ride of 2004 (?) when he finished top 10.

Excellent sprint finish - great call by PP and Bennati.
Zabel did well too.