Thomas dispatched over 12 minutes after what appeared to be a minor crash in the neutralized area earlier in the day
Geraint Thomas saw his Giro d’Italia hopes go up in smoke on Mount Etna and Simon Yates faltered a lot when Jonathan Caicedo won stage three and Joao Almeida donned the leader’s pink jersey
Thomas and Yates were at the top of the overall contenders list when the race started on Saturday morning, but the odds were quickly recalculated by the time they reached the summit of the Sicilian volcano in what appeared to be a day fatal for the British hope
Thomas dispatched more than 12 minutes after what appeared to be a minor crash in the neutralized zone at the start of the day turned out to be a watershed moment for the Welshman
As the gap with the Ineos Grenadiers rider began to yawn on the 19km climb to the finish, Yates fell to the back of the peloton as the attacks unfolded ahead, and the man Mitchelton-Scott finally crossed the four-minute line and 22 seconds after EF Education First’s Caicedo
The Ecuadorian was part of a party of eight, also including Briton Matthew Holmes, who had come up the road very early, and he was able to escape Italian Giovanni Visconti at the top
Caicedo’s victory was about to bring him pink, and he is now seated alongside Almeida de Deceuninck-QuickStep
Jakob Fuglsang led the main contenders in just under a minute, just ahead of Rafal Majka and Vincenzo Nibali
Thomas, who underscored his status as the race’s overall favorite by taking time off his main rivals in Saturday’s opening time trial, fell before the 150 stage. km from Enna didn’t even start well
Other than a few scuffs on his jersey, Thomas didn’t look affected as he rode through the peloton, but as the pace picked up as the final climb approached, the Ineos Grenadiers was quickly abandoned
Filippo Ganna, still in pink jersey after his stage victory on Saturday, did his best to bring Thomas back with Rohan Dennis but they started the ascent of Etna already a minute and the gap did not increase. is dug that quickly from there
It was a cruel end to Thomas’ hopes, three years after his last incline at the Giro was effectively ended by an accident with a police motorcycle on the ninth stage
Yates took the pink on Etna in 2018, the first of his 13 days in the lead that year, but it was an unfortunate comeback this time around as he too suffered significant loss of time. from which it will be extremely difficult to recover
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Giro d’Italia, Diego Ulissi, Geraint Thomas, Peter Sagan, UAE Team Emirates, Team INEOS
News from around the world – GB – Geraint Thomas’ hopes for Giro glory go up in smoke on Mount Etna