Richie Porte and Team Sky fought off attacks from the Astana and Ag2r-La Mondiale teams during the third stage of the Giro del Trentino to Fierozzo, learning another precious lesson for the rapidly approaching Giro d'Italia.
Team Sky lost Mikel Nieve before the stage due to illness, forcing the other six riders in the team to do an extra share of the work. The British team grafted to control a large breakaway for much of the stage and then had to chase an attack that included Diego Rosa (Astana) and Roman Bardet (Ag2r-La Mondale) on the testing Passo Redebus. That left them tired on the eight-kilometre climb to the finish as several riders launched attacks to try and win the stage.
Porte and Team Sky never panicked when under attack but they were unable to stop Domenico Pozzovivo (Ag2r-La Mondiale) from winning the stage. Porte remains in the leader's fuchsia-coloured jersey, 22 seconds ahead of Mikel Landa (Astana), with his teammate Leopold Konig third overall at 58 seconds.
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"Ag2r were aggressive and raced well, Pozzovivo deserved the stage," Porte said sportingly. "Pozzovivo is a big champion and it's interesting to see that he bounced back after yesterday. The stage was not easy at all and the first climb after 37km was not as easy as it looked on paper. But it's another day in the jersey. We ran short of teammates at the finish but that's cycling. Everyone pulled their weight today."
It was a valuable lesson before the Giro d'Italia, where Team Sky may need to defend the leader's pink jersey for several days.
"This is not our final team for Sky for the Giro," Porte pointed out. "There are guys coming in who are a little stronger, while some of these guys will be better for the Giro. We lost Nieve due to illness but he'll be okay for the Giro and will be a big help. That's what we lacked that bit in the last three kilometres."
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