CYCLING – EDOARDO Zamabanini finished third on stage 3 at the Tour of Antalya, rounding off an all-Italian podium, finishing behind stage winner Piganzoli (Polti Kometa) and Pinarello (Bardiani).
The young Italian’s solid performance on Tahtali also kept the Bahrain Victorious podium streak going for a third consecutive day.
The 133.4km stage from Kemer to the challenging finish atop Tahtali, featured over 3,000m of elevation gain. After 20km of racing an early break of five riders formed and had a gap over the peloton of more than two minutes. The gap was controlled throughout the race and at the foot of Tahtali, with just 10km to go, everything was back together with 30 riders left in the peloton.
The steepness of the final section of the climb detracted any early attacks, and it was only in the final 2km where the group was reduced to 15 riders did the eventual race winner Piganzoli attack, and went clear to win.
Zambanini finished 18 seconds down in third place. He said, “I felt good, really good on the stage. I’ve got to thank all my team mates, who took care of me and supported me all stage.
“The last climb was a bit strange because we started super hard and then we started to ‘sprint’ against each other. Then Piganzoli went with 3km to go, and we started to watch each other, so he arrived and I finished third. Again thanks to the staff and my teammates for their support today.”
Zambanini finishes third to continue Victorious streak
Zambanini
&uuid=(email))