Paul Magnier takes a second sprint victory at the Giro d'Italia winning stage 3 after the breakaway almost took the day in Sofia

Paul Magnier took the sprint win in Sofia at the end of stage 3 of the Giro d'Italia in the Bulgarian capital, Sofia on Sunday, winning his second stage at his second attempt.

Wearing the cyclamen jersey of the points classification leader, the Soudal Quick Step rider came over the top of Lidl-Trek's Jonathan Milan, who opened up his sprint around 250m form the line, before they reached a stretch of cobbles which took them over the line. The Frenchman out-powered his Italian counterpart, edging him into second place, with Dylan Groenewegen (Unibet-Rose Rockets) taking third place.

Thomas Silva (XDS-Astana) retains the race leader's pink jersey after finishing safely in the bunch in 60th place.

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The sprint finish was widely expected, but almost didn't happen, with the breakaway coming close to taking the day. Having escaped the moment the flag dropped at the start of the stage, the three-man group entered the Bulgarian capital's wide boulevards with their lead inside one minute. However, they were still leading by 15 seconds with 2km to go and threatened to steal the sprinters' thunder, though, in the end, they were finally caught with 500m to go.

Magnier's winning margin was not huge, as the Frenchman acknowledged in his post-race interview.

"I was not really sure to win the stage, to be honest. I celebrated and then I say I'm not sure, but in the end I won so I'm really happy," Magnier said.

"I have to say I feel really good and I beat the best sprinters in the world, so I will try to enjoy this moment and keep going like this with the team.

"It was the goal to go for a stage again and the team did an amazing job again, they controlled the day and then we had the time to really be in good position at 1k to go and this is what we did."

With the Giro continuing on Tuesday in southern Italy, Magnier is likely to have to wait until Thursday for his next chance for stage victory. Then the peloton will race from the Ancient Greek city of Paestum north to Naples.

HOW IT HAPPENED

Sunday's third stage was the last of the Grande Partenza in Bulgaria, the peloton tackling a 175km course, heading west from Plovdiv to the country's capital, Sofia.

With 1,462m of vertical ascent, the stage was not too challenging, though the second category climb of Borovets Pass came with 71km to go. Though the classified part of the climb was only 9.2km at an average gradient of 5.3%, much of the preceding 40km was an uphill drag, making the day more difficult.

After 5.4km of neutral, the breakaway formed the moment the flag dropped, three riders escaping, including Diego Sevilla, in the break for the third consecutive day and hoping to consolidate his lead in the mountains classification. He was joined by his Polti-Visit Malta team mate, Alessandro Tonelli and Manuele Tarozzi (Bardiani-CSF 7-Saber), the trio quickly building a lead.

With the stage expected to conclude in a bunch sprint, behind the break the XDS-Astana squad of stage two winner and overall leader, Thomas Silva called the bluff of the sprinters' squads, allowing the breakaway's lead to grow to more than five minutes. The message was received loud and clear and the fast men's teams were soon at the front bringing their deficit down and allowing it to settle around the 2.30 minute mark.

The breakaway did not compete for points at an intermediate sprint, Tarozzi crossing the line first, but Jonathan Milan (Lidl-Trek) set out his stall, chipping off the front of the bunch to make the most of what points remained in his search for a third cyclamen jersey classification.

Having been in the break on the previous two days, Sevilla had won all the classified climbs on both and, sure enough, did the same on the Borovets Pass, consolidating his lead in the mountains classification, ensuring he'd wearing the maglia azzura when the race reaches Italian roads on Tuesday.

By the time the race reached the final 50km, and with the sprint teams still working on the front, the leaders' advantage was dropping, edging below one minute with 25km remaining. However, on the run towards the Red Bull kilometre intermediate sprint, 13km from the line, that gap increased and the three breakaway riders battled it out. Tarozzi took the maximum six bonus seconds, the peloton by then just 30 seconds behind.

As the race took on the huge, wide streets of Sofia inside the final 5km the sprint trains came together, but a valiant fight from the three breakaway riders saw then hold off the bunch until 500m to go, the Decathlon-CMA CGM team taking control before Milan finally launched his sprint.

The Giro takes a day off on Monday, the peloton travelling from Hungary to Italy for stage 4, a 138km stage between Cantanzaro and Cosenza, in the country's far south.

RESULTS

1. Paul Magnier (Fra) Soudal-QuickStep in 4:09:42
2. Jonathan Milan (Ita) Lidl-Trek
3. Dylan Groenewegen (Ned) Unibet-Rose Rockets
4. Madis Mihkels (Est) EF Education-EasyPost
5. Matteo Malucelli (Ita) XDS-Astana
6. Erlend Blikra (Nor) Uno-X Mobility
7. Pascal Ackerman (Ger) Jayco-AlUla
8. Davide Ballerini (Ita) XDS-Astana
9. Tobia Lund Andresen (Den) Decathlon-CMA CGM
10. Enrico Zanoncello (Italian) Bardiani-CSF-7 Saber, all at same time

GENERAL CLASSIFICATION AFTER STAGE 3

1. Thomas Silva (Uru) XDS-Astana in 13:10:05
2. Florian Stork (Ger) Tudor, +4s
3. Egan Bernal (Col) Netcompany-Ineos, same time
4. Thymen Arensmen (Ned) Netcompany-Ineos, +6s
5. Giulio Ciccone (Ita) Lidl-Trek, same time
6. Jan Christen (Swi) UAE Team Emirates-XRG, +10s
7. Martin Tjøtta (Nor) Uno-X Mobility
8. Johannes Kulset (Nor) Uno-X Mobility
9. Enric Mas (Esp) Movistar
10. Lennert van Eetvelt (Bel) Lotto-Intermarché, all at same time