After finishing 2nd in the first mountain stage, Przemyslaw Niemiec entered the third stage of the Giro del Trentino with the ambition to move up on GC. On the short steep climb that didn't suit the strong Pole, however, he had to change his plans and it became a day of defending for the Lampre-Merida leader.

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.

Yesterday 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. Today he had hoped to achieve a similar result but the short steep climb to the finish in Roncone didn't suit the strong Pole.

Instead, it was all about limiting his losses for Niemiec who crossed the line in 12th but remains very much in podium contention. He is now 6th overall but one of four riders that are all 1.01 behind overall leader Cadel Evans and just 2 seconds off the podium.

In general, it was a difficult day for Lampre-Merida as the team missed the very strong 12-rider break that dominated the day and so had to spend most of the day on the defensive. In the end, they managed to neutrlalize the move but it cost a lost of energy for the Italian team.

"The break with 12 riders put us in a positiion where we had to held keep the advantage under control as we had no rider in the move," sports director Orlando Maini said. "I liked the work in front of the group of Xu Gang, Luca Dodi and Elia Favilli. Thenwe had to finalize the our effort to allow Niemiec to start the final climb smoothly and in a good position.

"So intense climbs with many attacks are not ideal for Przemyslaw who still managed to handle it well and do a good performance to keep his chances for a place of honour completely open."