After a long day in the breakaway, Lorenzo Milesi fought until the end to finish second on stage three of Giro Valle d’Aosta.

With four KOMs up for grabs today, the breakaway was always going to be hotly contested. Attacking from the start, Milesi made multiple attempts to form the break of the day within the first 10km, ultimately ending up in a group of six with Development Team DSM teammate Oscar Olney for company. After establishing a gap of 2’00”, Olney then dropped back to help protect Max Poole’s GC position.

With attacks coming thick and fast, one rider went solo on the last climb of the day. Milesi paced himself on the ascent, momentarily losing contact with the front of the race until catching the chasers on the descent, securing second place for the team.

Milesi said: “Today the plan was to be in the break and both Oscar and I managed to make it on the first climb of the day. The gap was never big, just around 2’00” but we were able to hold on. The group split on the final climb and when I got back to the front it was a race for second. I would like to thank all the staff as everything felt perfect today.”

Team DSM coach Boris Zimine added: “We knew that these stages would fit Lorenzo well, so the plan was to go for a stage result with him. The break with Lorenzo and Oscar was really solid, but we needed Oscar to drop back and help Max. On the final climb of the day Lorenzo paced himself brilliantly and caught the front riders on the descent. We can be happy with today. The result for Lorenzo is great and Max also finished with the favourites to protect his place on GC.”