Giro d'Italia 2020 - Jonathan Caicedo wins Stage 3 as Geraint Thomas and Simon Yates lose time

ByEurosport

Updated 05/10/2020 at 17:13 GMT

Jonathan Caicedo won Stage 3 of the Giro d'Italia... but that was only half the story as Geraint Thomas and Simon Yates suffered disappointing days. Thomas crashed in the neutral zone and lost huge time to rule himself out of overall contention, while Yates struggled on the climb of Mount Etna to leave him needing a big recovery in the remaining 18 stages.

Team Education First rider Ecuador's Jonathan Caicedo celebrates as he crosses the finish line to win on October 5, 2020 the 3rd stage of the Giro d'Italia 2020 cycling race, a 150-kilometer route between Enna and volcano Etna, Linguaglossa-Piano Provenza

Image credit: Getty Images

Geraint Thomas is out of Giro d'Italia contention while Simon Yates lost four minutes and twenty two seconds on a disastrous day for British riders in Stage 3 of the Italian Grand Tour. Thomas finished about 11 minutes behind the group of GC leaders, who crossed a minute down on the stage winner.

It was a brilliant stage for EF Pro Cycling, who took the headlines for something other than their sublime kit as Jonathan Caicedo broke away to win at the summit of Mount Etna. He made a huge effort to get into the initial breakaway when it went up the road and was helped along the flatter part of the stage by teammate Lawson Craddock. When Craddock finally packed it in, Caicedo forged on with Giovanni Visconti (Vini Zabu) and was strong enough to drop the Italian rider about halfway up the climb.

Caicedo finished 10 seconds ahead of the chasing Visconti, with Lotto Soudal's Harm Vanhoucke in third. Wilco Kelderman secured fourth, the best placed of the pre-race GC hopefuls.

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Stage 3 Highlights - Race-defining day at the Giro as Thomas and Yates struggle on Mount Etna

Joao Almeida (Deceuninck–Quick-Step) assumes the race lead, on the exact same time as Caicedo.

On a day that surely nobody could have predicted, enormous fissures appeared in the facade of the Ineos Grenadiers. The British team started the day with the pink jersey and the favourite overall, however the terrible luck that has blighted their season since it restarted in August saw their leader Thomas crash in the neutralised zone at the very beginning of the stage.

Videos show crash which ended Geraint Thomas's Giro dream

As it transpired, despite resuming the race and covering some 110km in the pack, Thomas sustained injuries in that crash severe enough to render him powerless as soon as the lower slopes of Etna were reached. He cut a disconsolate figure as he ground his way up the volcano, flanked by Ineos support riders, including maglia rosa Filippo Ganna. In a single climb they lost the race lead and their best chance of winning the overall.

WATCH: Disaster for Thomas as his Giro goes up in smoke at base of Mount Etna

It took a little bit longer for Yates to crack. He lost contact with the GC favourites at 8.7km to go, after putting his team on the front of the peloton for much of the stage's opening kilometres. As yet, there has been no statement from either Yates or his team about exactly why he couldn't hold the wheel, but his time losses are almost fatal to his general classification aims.

‘They are dropping like flies at the Giro’ – Simon Yates ships time on Stage 3

Caicedo takes the lead of the climbers' classification after his haul of points for winning the mountain top finish, with Diego Ulissi retaining the ciclamino points jersey he won yesterday.