After two days of whiplash swings Sunday and Monday, defending champion Ryder Hesjedal of Victoria cracked the top-10 in the overall standings of the Giro d’Italia.
Hesjedal launched three darting attacks on the climb in Monday’s coastal 222-kilometre medium-mountain third stage from Sorrento to Marina di Ascea but was reeled in each time before settling for third place.
Luca Paolini of Italy broke away alone on the descent late in the stage to win going away in five hours 43 minutes and 50 seconds.
Hesjedal and 2011 Tour de France champion Cadel Evans were at the head of the next group, 16 seconds behind, with the Aussie just edging the Islander for second place.
“The whole team was strong today and I was feeling good, so I decided to attack,” said Hesjedal, the lead rider for Garmin-Sharp.
“It’s a long race and you have to take opportunities every time you can, so that’s what we did.”
The result moved Hesjedal into seventh place overall, 34 seconds behind the pink-jersey-wearing Paolini.
The 2012 Tour de France champion and London Summer Olympics time-trial gold-medallist, Sir Bradley Wiggins of Great Britain, is second overall and 17 seconds behind Paolini.
“I’m happy with today’s result and we’ll keep taking it day by day,” said Hesjedal.
That made up for the acutely disappointing result in the team time trial the day before. Garmin-Sharp, the defending Giro team champion, won last year’s team time trail but was relegated to a sobering seventh place on Sunday, 25 seconds behind the victorious Team Sky of Great Britain.
There are 22 teams and 207 riders from 31 nations in the 2013 Giro, the annual event considered the second most important cycling stage race behind the Tour de France.
In winning the individual championship last year in the Giro, Hesjedal became the first Canadian ever to make the podium of a Grand Tour event.
Today’s 246-kilometre medium-mountain fourth stage is from Policastro Bussentino to Serra San. It is the second-longest leg of this year’s Giro.
The 21-stage race concludes May 26 in Brescia.
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