The third stage of the Tour of Italy (2.UWT), the last one on Hungarian soil, ended in an expected bunch sprint along Lake Balaton this Sunday. Biniam Girmay took fourth place at the end of the stage of 201 kilometer.
The rider from Asmara, who’s making his Grand Tour debut, lined up for the start in Kaposvár with a third different jersey in three days. Thanks to his second place in the points classification behind pink jersey Mathieu van der Poel, the Eritrean rider wore the ciclamino jersey.
His teammates guided him to the front in the approach to the final kilometer, after which he battled with the best sprinters. Although Girmay was boxed in, he finished fourth in the slipstream of winner Mark Cavendish.
At the end of this third stage, Girmay has now 55 points in the battle for the purple jersey or seven less than leader van der Poel. After a travel day to Sicily on Monday, the first mountain top finish is waiting for the riders on top of the Etna.
« In an almost entirely flat stage like today, I can be satisfied with fourth place. The final was difficult and the positioning battle was tough. But my teammates did a fantastic job once more to keep me in the front positions during this fast finish. It is thanks to Barnabás, Aimé and Loïc that I could start the sprint in a perfect position. I felt good and I wanted to give everything to cross the line first, but I was surrounded by other sprinters and no gaps opened up. In addition to my fourth place, I also won some points for the ciclamino jersey in the intermediate sprint, because I'm not far behind Mathieu van der Poel in the points classification. I want to get well through these three weeks so you never know, maybe I can continue the battle for this distinctive jersey! »
