Giro d'Italia, in Valona Mads Pedersen found what he was looking for
Mads Pedersen's victory on the finish line in Valona, 3rd stage of the Giro d'Italia 2025 (photo Ansa)
Letters at a different level
The Dane won the third stage of the pink race, beating Corbyn Strong in the sprint. Thanks to the bonus, he returned to the pink jersey. Lorenzo Fortunato wore the best climber's jersey
Who knows why the Albanian writer and poet Ismail Kadare wrote that “there is always a good reason to go or return to Vlora”. But he wrote it. He also wrote that in Vlora “the things you are looking for are lined up”.
In solidarity with the riders who run the Giro d'Italia, here we decided to tell the stages of the Giro d'Italia doing their same hard work: one letter (including spaces) per meter of altitude difference. Here is the 3rd stage of the Giro, the Valona-Valona of 160 kilometers and 2,800 meters of altitude difference in 2,800 characters (including spaces)
In the group there were 182 good reasons to go to Vlora, many of which were similar, although not entirely. However, few managed to get what they were looking for along the 160 kilometers of the third stage of the Giro d'Italia 2025. Because in the end it is not true that in Vlora "you line up the things you are looking for". There are few lucky ones who can say they have succeeded. And among them there was not Ismail Kadare: " I lost love in the sea / when one day it left to never return / In Vlora I cried / salty and disgusting tears ".
Things went better, much better for Mads Pedersen . He found what he was looking for down there. And he found it at the end of a long straight and another sprint that started in the lead and finished in the lead, still with his arms raised, still with a smile of enormous satisfaction on his face. Still with a pink jersey to wear after having had to reluctantly abandon it, in favor of Primoz Roglic, in Tirana .
Pedersen will keep the pink jersey on for a few days: it will take a while before his wheels encounter climbs that his legs can't stomach.
Behind him was Corbyn Strong and not Wout van Aert. The image under the finish banner was different from the one on stage 1. The Belgian had lost his way, along with many others, climbing towards the Llogara Pass. The Dane's team had once again imposed its will, in the face of that of the sprinters.
On the Llogara Pass, Lorenzo Fortunato instead stood up on the pedals in pursuit of an Italian objective. He had been busy since the beginning of the Giro. He had been the fastest to overcome the Grand Prix of the mountain of the second climb of the first stage. Two days later, climbing towards the first real climb of this Giro, he was busy again: a small escape with Pello Bilbao on his wheel, Gpm won, blue jersey of best climber worn. At least for now. There are still a lot of climbs to overcome . We'll see.
Mark Donovan, Lorenzo Germani, Chris Hamilton instead had hopes that were impossible to catch up with. The same as Dries de Bondt and Alessandro Tonelli, who chased those three for kilometers before reaching them. So it goes for the latecomers of the breakaway. The five have shared a few intermediate sprints, a few hours as protagonists in front of the world and, some of them, even quick access to the team buses having arrived with the first group. They cannot consider themselves disappointed.
The caravan will take the sea route in the manner of Ismail Kadare's lost love. On Tuesday the riders will set off again from Alberobello, the Giro will return to Italy.
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