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Turns out that Torstein Træen of Bahrain Victorious also didn’t start today’s stage. Suffering from a knee injury apparently.
The Capo Mele comes just 3 kilometres from the line which could be interesting. If anyone is going to disrupt the sprinters today, that’s the place to do it.
The race is actually now rolling along terrain that is often used in Milan-San Remo. The peloton will actually tackle the Capo Mele towards the end of the stage, a climb synonymous with the Italian Monument.
Here’s some footage of Girmay just now for those unable to watch the television pictures.
54.3 km to go: Trek are on the front of the peloton now and riding hard.
2:19 to De Bod and Munoz.
Meanwhile Visma are absolutely ripping it through Savona. A bit of a split has formed in the main field as a result of the upturn in pace and the crashes on the road.
Biniam Girmay has abandoned the race. He’s still with medics on the road and doesn’t look like he’ll be getting back on the bike this time.
59km to go: Meanwhile the two remaining leaders have just gone through Savona and the last sprint point of the day.
It looked like his bike just slipped from under him on the wet roads.
Not what you want at all!
Oh no! Girmay has gone down again!
64km to go: Really amazed Girmay was able to climb back onto his bike and get going again. He looked like he was in quite a bit of pain.
Girmay’s leg looks pretty sore. Looks like it could be a nasty gash on his hip but surprisingly he’s back on the bike.
Fernando Gaviria (Movistar) was also involved.
Doesn’t look good for Girmay at all. He’s grimacing and shaking his head. Looks like he’s got an issue with his right leg.
Ben O’Connor is involved along with Matteo Trentin, Biniam Girmay and others.
Big crash in the main field! That was going to happen sooner rather than later with the roads as wet as they are.
(Image credit: Getty Images)
The weather has gone from bad to worse. The rain is absolutely lashing down now.
71km to go: The peloton have just sped through the Intergiro sprint. Christophe Laporte teed up Kooij to perfection for the Dutchman to sweep up any remaining points…. Im not sure there were any at that point!
73km to go: Munoz has just swept up the points available at the Intergiro sprint competition.
Visma-Lease a Bike are really driving the pace on the front of the bunch. Lidl-Trek are also present. Olav Kooij and Jonathan Milan must both be feeling particularly fresh today.
Askey and Narvaez are both safely back in the main field.
77km to go: The roads are nice and slick as the riders head down towards the coast roads. De Bod, Calmejane and Munoz are still up ahead with a lead of 3:36
Narvaez is back with another FDJ rider and closing in on the back of the main field. The riders are gradually on the long descent down towards the flatter terrain. Ethan Vernon of Israel-Premier Tech was also involved in the same crash as Narvaez.
Lewis Askey from Groupama FDJ is at the back of the main field calling for the team car. Looks like he’s got an issue with the gears on his Willier bike.
Jakobsen is still off the back and has now been joined by Narvaez from Ineos Grenadiers. The Ecuadorian former pink jersey winner hit the deck in a small crash on the descent just now.
84.5 km to go: The riders are off the Colle del Melogno and onto the little uncategorised kicker on the other side.
99 km to go: There was no race to the top, but a lot of muscling over who gets to lead the descent. Poor Fabio Jakobsen (dsm-firmenich PostNL) lost the wheel on the climb and is being paced back on by his team-mates.
102 km to go: Calmejane crests the third-category climb first. A bit of downhill will follow, before a flatter run-in to the line. Will there be a scrap for mountains points in the peloton?
(Image credit: Getty Images)
108 km to go: There’s a decent tussle for the remaining points at the imtermediate sprint. Kaden Groves (Alpecin-Deceuninck) comes out on top, ahead Tim Merlier (Soudal Quick-Step) and Biniam Girmay (Intermarché-Wanty).
110 km to go: Muñoz, Calmejane and De Bod now have a 5-23 advantage over the peloton. Muñoz just won the intermediate sprint, with little fuss from the others.
Tadej Pogačar is nestled in the peloton. Will we see another move in the finale? He vowed to go from the gun last night…
(Image credit: Visma-Lease a Bike)
126 km to go: The gap to the breakaway trio is now 4-45. The mood is calm.
162 km to go: Ganna has now dropped back into the bunch and is pulling on leg warmers at the Ineos team car.
A fair few riders have pulled on wet weather gear as the rain has started to fall.
We had one non-starter in Aqui Terme this morning. Bram Welten of dsm–firmenich PostNL after being taken unwell overnight.
175 km to go: It’s now over a minute. Calmejane is another strong rider to have in that move. It’s still unlikely a breakaway will go to the line but Ganna’s presence will certainly change things.
176 km to go: The leaders gap is currently hovering between 45 seconds and a minute at the moment.
177 km to go:
We’ve got a breakaway of four riders as things stand. Interestingly, Filippo Ganna of Ineos Grenadiers is in the move which should give it plenty of momentum.
We’re underway and it looks like we’ve already got a small breakaway.
Although looks like Tadej has reverted back to black shorts today!
I noticed a lot of chatter on social media yesterday regarding Pogačar’s shorts. They weren’t quite the right colour to match his maglia rosa but it turns out this is why they were that particular shade of pink.
Stage four
(Image credit: Getty Images)
Tadej Pogačar leads the race by 46 seconds ahead of Geraint Thomas in second. Dani Martínez is one second further back in third. I would expect this to remain largely unchanged come 17:00 UK time this evening.
1. Tadej Pogačar (Slo) UAE Team Emirates, in 11:03:02
2. Geraint Thomas (GBr) Ineos Grenadiers, +46s
3. Daniel Felipe Martínez (Col) Bora-Hansgrohe, +47s
4. Einer Rubio (Col) Movistar, +56s
5. Cian Uijtdebroeks (Bel) Visma-Lease a Bike, +56s
6. Lorenzo Fortunato (Ita) Astana Qazaqstan, +1:07
7. Juan Pedro López (Esp) Lidl-Trek, +1:11
8. Jan Hirt (Cze) Soudal Quick-Step, +1:13
9. Alexey Lutsenko (Kaz) Astana Qazaqstan, +1:26
10. Ben O’Connor (Aus) Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale, +1:26
