Norwegian Edvald Boasson Hagen of Team Sky won the third stage of Tirreno-Adriatico on Friday in a sprint finish following a 178km ride from Indicatore to Terni.
Australian Matthew Goss of GreenEdge finished safely in the pack to hold on to the leader’s blue jersey.
German Andre Griepel finished second, with Slovakian Peter Sagan in third.
It was the second day in a row that Sky claimed the stage victory following world champion Mark Cavendish’s success in Thursday’s second stage.
Boasson Hagen revealed that Cavendish had told him he wasn’t feeling up to Friday’s sprint, giving the Norwegian the green light to contest the victory.
“The plan from start was to work for Cav in the sprint, but with about 6km to go he said he wasn’t feeling super great, so they said I’d do the sprint and the team worked for me,” Boassen Hagen said. “It’s nice to win and finish things off.”
“Cav’s the team’s sprinter and when he’s good I’m happy to work for him and then take my chances if he’s not feeling great,” he said. “He’s a good guy and is always honest, as he proved today. He said he wasn’t good straight away. We trust each other and we know we can work well together.”
Race leader Goss finished sixth on the stage and admitted he had his eyes on bigger prizes.
“I’d have liked to get more of a run yesterday. It was difficult today, but I feel good for Milan-Sanremo, there aren’t as many guys at the finish of that race,” he said.
“Today I was a little too far back in the sprint and it was difficult to move up in the last few corners. The important thing is that my legs felt good. I’m in the shape I need to be to be competitive at Milan-Sanremo,” he said.
Italian Filippo Savini was the star of the day, setting off on a long solo break as soon as the official race began, but he was caught with 30km left.
Garmin tried to launch American sprinter Tyler Farrar, who was third on Thursday, but Boasson Hagen proved the strongest man in the sprint.
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