Bagioli retains the lead at Coppi e Bartali

Our rider will go into the last stage with a three-second buffer over his closest rival.

Andrea Bagioli will carry the leader’s jersey into stage 4 of the Settimana Internazionale Coppi e Bartali, after comfortably concluding the mountainous penultimate day around Riccione in the peloton. One of the six different Deceuninck – Quick-Step riders to have led a stage race since the start of the season, the 21-year-old from Sondrio enjoyed a quiet day in the bunch, which was controlled from the start by his teammates, who allowed the five-man break a maximum gap of three minutes.

Mikkel Honoré, James Knox, Pieter Serry and Mauri Vansevenant were responsible with the pace-setting on the 166.5km-long course that accumulated over 2500 meters of climbing and overhauled the day’s fugitives with 12 kilometers to go, after the last of the stage’s three classified climb. A late attack was then quickly nullified by the same Wolfpack, before the race came down to a reduced bunch sprint, from where Jhonatan Narvaez (Ineos) took the win.

The GC picture hasn’t changed much after this stage, with Andrea Bagioli still in the white jersey, which rewards the race leader. Our rider now has a three-second advantage over the Ecuadorian ahead of the final stage, which will take place Friday over a hilly circuit in Forli.

Photo credit: ©Justin Setterfield / Getty Images