British Manx Missle Mark Cavendish wins first bunch sprint on Stage 3 of the Giro d'Italia

Mark Cavendish (Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl) sprinted to an impressive victory at Stage 4 of the Giro d'Italia, claiming his 16th Stage win of the race in his career. Cavendish held off Arnaud Demare (Groupama-FDJ) in second with Fernando Gaviria (UAE Team Emirates) in third

The Manxman and his team timed their move to perfection and moving early, was able to hold off the challenge of a desperate bunch who could not catch him.

The Manxman was dropped off by his final lead-out man Michael Mørkøv with just under 300m to go and was able to hold his effort all the way to the line to beat Arnaud Démare (Groupama-FDJ) and Fernando Gaviria (UAE Team Emirates).

Démare inched Gaviria to second place, while Biniam Girmay (Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert) found himself boxed in and had to settle for fourth.

Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Fenix) retained the pink jersey as overall leader after switching to a support role. He looked to lead-out Jakub Mareczko but the Italian was slightly out of position and could only manage fifth place despite hitting the line with speed.

It was Mark Cavendish's 106th win and his 16th win at the Giro d'Italia.

It's Cavendish's first stage victory at the Giro d'Italia since stage 21 of the 2013 edition, and his fourth victory of the 2022 season.

Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Fenix) retains his overall lead of 11 seconds over Simon Yates (BikeExchange-Jayco) after safely finishing in the main peloton.

The Giro head to Sicily on Tuesday for the first mountain stage atop Mt Etna on Stage 4 after the rest day tomorrow, Monday.

VIDEO: 2022 Giro d'Italia Stage 3 Highlights

2022 Giro d'Italia Stage 3 Top 10

01 GBR Mark Cavendish Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl Team 04:56:39
02 FRA Arnaud Démare Groupama-FDJ + 00
03 COL Fernando Gaviria UAE Team Emirates + 00
04 ERI Biniam Girmay Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert + 00
05 ITA Jakub Mareczko Alpecin-Fenix + 00
06 BEL Edward Theuns Trek-Segafredo + 00
07 ITA Simone Consonni Cofidis + 00
08 AUS Caleb Ewan Lotto Soudal + 00
09 ITA Alberto Dainese Team DSM + 00
10 GER Phil Bauhaus Bahrain Victorious + 00

2022 Giro d'Italia GC after stage 3

1. Mathieu van der Poel (Ned) Alpecin-Fenix, in 9-43-50
2. Simon Yates (GBr) Team BikeExchange-Jayco, at 11s
3. Tom Dumoulin (Ned) Jumbo-Visma, at 16s
4. Matteo Sobrero (Ita) Team BikeExchange-Jayco, at 24s
5. Wilco Kelderman (Ned) Bora-Hansgrohe, at same time
6. Ben Tulett (GBr) Ineos Grenadiers, at same time
7. Tobias Foss (Nor) Jumbo-Visma, at 28s
8. Bauke Mollema (Ned) Trek-Segafredo, at same time
9. Pello Bilbao (Esp) Bahrain-Victorious, at 29s
10. Mauro Schmid (Sui) Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl, at same time