If yesterday was the day of Edoardo Zardini, today was for Nicola Boem who joined the breakaway that stayed in front for about 180km in stage 3 of the Tirreno-Adriatico. Later his Bardiani teammate Enrico Battaglin finished 11th, a good result against the world's strongest puncheurs.

As happened yesterday, the first attacks were launched at kilometre zero and the right attempt was composed by Nicola Boem and four other riders.

In the first part the breakaway gained more than 14:30 but when they arrived in the circuit in Arezzo, 11km to cover 5 times, the advantage started to go down.

With 30km to go, Boem and the other escapees saw the peloton coming fast and on the penultimate lap, the Bardiani rouleur attacked together with Haga (Giant – Shimano). The new leading duo held on until 18km to go when the peloton ended the break that had lasted for 180km.

The stage was decided in a sprint between finisseurs with Enrico Battaglin able to conquer a positive 11th place, missing nearly a spot in the top-10. Victory went to Greg Van Avermaet (BMC) who Sagan (Tinkoff – Saxo) and Stybar (Etixx – Quick Step).

Unfortunately,Sonny Colbrelli has been forced to withdraw from the race due to a flu that has affected him since yesterday.

”We managed today's stage in a good way," manager Roberto Reverberi said. "Boem delivered a strong performance, bringing the breakaway into the last 20km. It was clear that the chances to make it were very small because some big team like Tinkoff for Sagan set the tempo in front of the peloton since the start. But he managed to try until the end.

"I’m pleased with Battaglin’s result. He expected a good result from today and I guess he was not far off. He was beaten by the most part of the best puncheurs in the world, finishing really close to them. It’s a good signal for me. The only bad news came from Colbrelli’s withdrawal. Yesterday evening he suffered from flu. Today he tried to continue but he wasn’t in shape. Now he’ll go back home to recover."

”With the team we planned to try again after Zardini’s attempt yesterday," Boem said. "It was my turn and after some attacks I jumped into the right breakaway. In the final laps in Arezzo we knew that the peloton would catch us but I pushed strong until the end, trying a late attack with Haga. I can be satisfied with my performance”.