Roberto Ferrari again proved his excellent ability to position himself for the sprints when he got onto Marcel Kittel's wheel in today's third stage of the Giro d'Italia. However, a clash with Nacer Bouhanni caused him to lose momentum and he had to settle for seventh.

Roberto Ferrari is left to fend for himself in the hectic bunch sprints in the Giro d'Italia but that is no big problem for the Lampre-Merida sprinter. Known for his excellent ability position himself, the Italian usually finds himself in a very good place in the finale.

That was again the case in today's third stage of the Giro d'Italia when he had won the battle for Marcel Kittel's wheel. However, Nacer Bouhanni had also set his sights on the position just behind the superior Germand and so the two sprinters clashed in the battle for the spot, causing both to lose momentum and speed.

"I was satisfied because thanks to my teammates I had saved energy during the stage and I was approaching the sprint in a good way, pedaling just behind Kittel," Ferrari said. "When Kittel started his sprint, I was ready to follow him, but Bouhanni touched me twice, so I lost the rhythm needed to be competitive.

"These things sometimes happen when you're fighting for such an important goal as a Giro d'Italia stage. Next time I'll try to find the best solution to avoid that it will happen again to me".

Lampre-Merida had an unfortunate day as Diego Ulissi, Przemyslaw Niemiec, Mattia Cattaneo, Matteo Bono and Manuel Mori all crashed. Luckily, only Mori suffered an injury, with the Italian having a contusion to his chest that should not prevent him from continuing the race.