Przemyslaw Niemiec proved that he deserves the role as Lampre-Merida captain at the Giro d'Italia when he finished 2nd in today's first mountain stage of the traditional warm-up race, Giro del Trentino. The Pole rode wisely on the final climb and now finds himself in third overall.

With Chris Horner out due to a crash, the role of Lampre-Merida captain at the Giro d'Italia is set to be shared between Przemyslaw Niemiec and Damiano Cunego. While the latter is following his usual schedule by riding in the Ardennes, Niemiec uses the Giro del Trentino to get his legs up to racing speed.

Last year's 6th place finisher in the Giro proved that he is ready for the upcoming challenges when he finished 2nd in today's first mountain stage of the race. Having originally been dropped by his main rivals on the final climb, he rode wisely to claw his way back before launching his own attack in the finale. However, he was unable to get back to lone leader Edoardo Zardini who had attacked 9km from the line.

The result moves Niemiec into 3rd overall, 17 seconds behind new leader Cadel Evans.

"First I want to express all my compliments to Zardini," he said. "5km from the line, we could see him for more than a kilometre but then he reopened his gap and stayed away to the finish.

"In the peloton, we began the fight 3000m from the finish, with a first attack from Aru that was followed by attacks from Duarte and Evans. Initially, I chose to go at my own steady pace which allowed me to get back to them and I still had energy to try an attack 600m from the line. Duarte and Evans could follow me.

"The stretch towards the finish was not very steep so the pace went up and there was no space for other attacks.

"I missed the victory, I hope it will come to me soon. Meanwhile, I can be satisfied with my performance, especially in view of Gthe iro d'Italia. I had good feedbacks in the frantic moments of attacks and I also had good feelings in the moments where we rode at a higher pace."