Giro d’Italia 2022 Stage 3 as it happened - Mark Cavendish claims impressive sprint victory

Nine years after his last win at the Giro d’Italia, Mark Cavendish takes number 16 of his career. He was moved up by his team at exactly the right time. He started his sprint before anyone else and when the camera switched to the head-on view, it seemed like the line would never come. Never doubt the most experienced, most successful sprinter in history. He took superb advantage advantage of the slight slope, made sure he wasn’t getting crowded out. Gaviria couldn’t come round him on his left, and although Demare came back towards the end, the Frenchman ran out of road. Magnificent victory for the Manxman.

Quick Step AlphaVinyl lead them under the kite. Ballarini for Cavendish leading the way.

As the lead-out trains take over at the front. Finally they’re motoring, alongside the lake at about 50kph. Fast enough to discourage any attacks but not more than 85% of maximum. Ineos Grenadiers doing a good job of keeping Richard Carapaz safe; Alpecin Fenix move up for Van der Poel.

With the peloton looming in the background he’s not exactly drilling himself to stay out there, but nor does any team want to be the one who expends the energy to draw him in.

On the sole classified climb of the day, the Tihany. After a big old tussle, it’s the Jumbo Visma rider who comes away with the only point on offer. They’re now level on points. If he stays ahead on the GC, Zabel will keep the jersey tonight. If Eenkhoorn stays away, however… (He won’t, he won’t.)

A few years ago I interviewed him for a magazine article in which I speculated that Thomas De Gendt had probably spent more time on the front of the peloton or off it, than any other rider in the last decade. No specific evidence to support that claim, but I stand by it. He’s driving the bunch along and will be expected to hand over to Caleb Ewan’s true lead-out riders in about eight kilometres. Ineos Grenadiers, EF Education, UAE Team Emirates, Trek Segafredo and Groupama FDJ also visible.

With fans still keeping up with them on the bike path, they're still not going very fast. By the fastest time schedule, the stage should have finished 15 minutes ago.

That’s it. That’s the update.

They’ve not started stringing out, which tells you the hammer hasn’t begun to fall quite yet, but the big teams are very much bossing the front as they roll along some very wide roads.

Five kilometres ago Rivi again tried to crack Bais, but the (slightly) older man was able to hang on. The pair still have thirty seconds over the bunch. As inevitable as their demise is, they've done well to make it this far into the stage and have even given us a bit of racing to watch. Which is nice of them.

Although it did come down to as low as twenty seconds just a few kilometres ago.

With the breakaway’s legs fading, rather than the bunch increasing the pace, the end has begun. Which of them will be last to be caught? An attack from Rivi has got rid of one of the Drone Hopper riders, Tagliani, as he aims for the award for the red number of most combative.

It’s also apparently dried up at the finish, which is good news for everyone. We’ve had a look at it on TV, and while it is dead straight, it does contain squeeze and pinch points that could cause stress.

Rivi just about stays with him but he can’t manage more than that. He perhaps ought to have waited a bit longer and stayed in the wheel, because Tagliani was clearly tiring.

No-one in the peloton has any interest in contesting the points, preferring to save their legs for the finish.

“This has been a real boring day,” says King Sean Kelly.

From the bike path next to the road, for longer than you would expect. So I wasn’t exaggerating when I said they were going at a manageable pace.

Rui Costa, (UAE Team Emirates) as he rides along chatting to his compatriot and team-mate João Almeida, flashes his bike computer at the camera. Not much insight to be taken from today’s stage, that’s for sure.

Which is not exactly slow, and would be a decent average speed for your Sunday club run. On this sort of terrain, however, plenty of you watching or reading this could probably hang on to a wheel going at that sort of whack. Second intermediate sprint coming up in about 15km, 1'23 the gap.

You may have noticed that I didn’t mention him as one of the big favourites for this stage, despite how strongly he’s been sprinting this season. Although I do think there will be a stage win for the Eritrean somewhere in the next few weeks, but I just think this finish is too fast and too straightforward for him. Like Van der Poel, who I also didn’t mention, he needs something a little more challenging and technical. When he does win, however, it’s going to be spectacular.

Still nothing whatsoever for anyone to worry about. The race is approaching the town of Héviz, which is beside and named after the biggest biologically active thermal lake in the world. The peloton could probably stop for a spa treatment and still catch the breakers. They won't, obviously, but they could.

There are plenty of riders who will be up for the cup in the first true sprint stage of this Giro d’Italia. Every rider and team wants to get one on the board early, as it takes a good deal of the pressure off for the rest of the race. There aren’t many opportunities for the fast men throughout the three weeks, which means they’re going to be especially hungry (pun intended) today.

Caleb Ewan (Lotto Soudal) might be a bit sore after his crash in the final metres of Friday’s stage one, but the fact that he was where he was, when he was there, tells you what kind of form he brought into the race.

The other biggest names are Israel-Premier Tech’s Giacomo Nizzolo, who finally broke his duck in this race after many years of trying, Arnaud Demare, Fernando Gaviria, and this guy:

Well no, not really, but no race is ever completely without risks and dangers. Getting to the finish in one piece is the priority for most of these men, especially for the main contenders. The straight roads they’re on at the moment look a little greasy and we’re hearing reports of showers at the finish in Balatonfüred. Though the last ten kilometres are quite technical, it’s pretty much straight from the flamme rouge. The final 800m are slightly downhill, which means it’s going to be a very very fast finish.

Mathieu van der Poel’s numbers have just been shown on screen and his heart rate is currently hovering around 120bpm, roughly what most of us will hit on a walk to the shops.

The trio’s gap is more or less as it was, around two minutes. They know as well as we do that today is going to come down to a bunch sprint and no-one, whether behind or anywhere else, wants to make them work too hard.

On Eurosport, Dan Lloyd has just explained how Rick Zabel of Israel Premier Tech has come to be wearing the King of the Mountains jersey. Apparently he rode a very gentle time trial right up to the climb, gave it full beans and that was that. He is still only joint leader with Mathieu van der Poel but obviously MVDP is in pink, which takes primacy over the blue polka dots.

The three riders are welcomed with a warm reception as they approach the line in Nagykanizsa. Tagliani is the one most invested in the points, going early and coming round Rivi. The Eolo Kometa rider makes a half-hearted effort to chase but quickly realises he’s beaten.

Behind in the bunch it’s Bardiani who take the initiative for Sacha Modolo. Caleb Ewan is not there so clearly isn’t interested - we know he intends to leave the race early anyway.

Fernando Gaviria (UAE Emirates) is the first of the jersey-hunters to push the pedals in anger and Arnaud Demare (Groupama FDJ) makes him ride all the way to the line but it's the Colombian who claims the 5.

Biniam Girmay, wearing the jersey on behalf of classification leader Mathieu van der Poel, adds two to his tally. He is now 25 points behind the Dutchman.

Welcome to coverage of stage three of the Giro d’Italia 2022. It’s the final day in Hungary and we join the race just before the first intermediate sprint, with three riders up the road.

They are:

Filippo Tagliani (Drone Hopper - Androni Giocattoli)
Mattia Bais (Drone Hopper - Androni Giocattoli)
Samuele Rivi (Eolo - Kometa)

They've got 2 minutes 30 seconds on the bunch, which has Alpecin-Fenix on the front of it.

The Giro d'Italia remains in Hungary for a third and final day for Stage 3 as the sprinters come to the fore as they battle for supremacy.

The 201km mostly flat stage from Kaposvar to Balatonfured is tailor made for the fast finishers with Mark Cavendish and Caleb Ewan among the favourites.

Mathieu van der Poel took Stage 1 and retained the maglia rosa after Stage 2 by finishing second in the Individual Time Trial won by Simon Yates.

A exciting day is on the cards as the riders say farewell to Hungary ahead of Monday's rest day to travel to Italy for Tuesday's first mountain stage in Sicily.

Team BikeExchange Jayco’s Simon Yates produced the time trial of his career to win stage 2 of the Giro d’Italia, and put himself in a strong position in the general classification going into stage 3. Mathieu van der Poel narrowly missed out on the stage win, coming in second to retain the maglia rosa.

Ahead of the stage, all the talk had been over whether or not the Dutch rider for Alpecin-Fenix could achieve back-to-back stage wins, or whether his compatriot, Tom Dumoulin, would be able to best him. The two were side-by-side in the final standings, but nobody could have predicted the incredible form of the British rider, who followed up on his strong time trial at Paris-Nice earlier in the Spring to prove that it was no fluke.

Read Katy Madgwick's full report here

Tune in from 12:15-17:00 BST to watch Stage 3 of the Giro d'Italia. Watch the action on Eurosport 1, with uninterrupted coverage on discovery+