Giro d'Italia stage three result: Elia Viviani disqualified in chaotic finish as Fernando Gaviria handed win
Viviani crossed the line first at the end of the 219km stage from Vinci to Orbetello, but he was adjudged to have illegally blocked Trek-Segafredo’s Matteo Moschetti
The Giro d’Italia has disqualified Italian sprinter Elia Viviani from stage three after he swerved dangerously across the road in the final metres, awarding the victory to the Colombian Fernando Gaviria.
Viviani crossed the line first at the end of the 219km stage from Vinci to Orbetello, but he was adjudged to have illegally blocked Trek-Segafredo’s Matteo Moschetti, and was stripped of the his seventh career stage win at his home Grand Tour.
UAE Team Emirates’ Gaviria, who won last year’s points classification after winning an impressive four stages, was handed his first of this year in underwhelming circumstances, having been beaten to the finish. Groupama-FDJ’s Arnaud Demare was upgraded from third to second.
Gaviria was clearly a little embarrassed to accept the acclaim. “Elia is a great person, he’s always fair,” he said. ”It’s hard to celebrate something like this. When he moved to the left, he did it without intention and he was just making his sprint. For me, he is the clear winner of the stage of today. I feel bad for him.”
Primoz Roglic, who won the opening time trial in Bologna, finished in the main bunch to retain the leader’s maglia rosa, but it was a frustrating day for Team Ineos and their young Londoner Tao Geoghegan Hart, who crashed himself early in the stage before getting caught up in the mayhem of another incident late in the day which cost him more than a minute.
Fellow Briton Simon Yates remains second overall, 19 seconds back from Roglic.
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