Luca Paolini used his head, experience and formidable descending skills to take an incredible solo win and the maglia rosa in today's third stage of the Giro d'Italia. As one of the world's leading one-day riders, the veteran Italian tackled the race as if it was one of his beloved classics.

Without Joaquin Rodriguez in the line-up there was not much talk about the Katusha team in the build-up to this year's Giro d'Italia. With a team mostly consisting of attackers expectations were rather low for the Russian team.

Today Luca Paolini very much proved that the red-clad team is in the race with a fantastic victory in today's third stage. In a huge drama he managed to stay with the best GC riders when they attacked each others on the climb and then he used all of his vast experience and formidable descending skills to solo off the front at the top of a little climb midway through the final descent.

The winner of this year's Omloop Het Nieuwsblad is known as one of the world's best one-day riders and is a key protagonist in the cobbled classics. He handled today's race as if it was one of his favourite races in the Northern part of Europe.

"Today I raced as if it was a classics race," he said. "I suffered during the last climb but I knew there was a descent later so I said to myself not to give up. I knew I am good on the descent, so I did not care about my little gap over the chase. I knew I could take a bigger advantage later. I started my attack at the top of the little climb; it was the best moment for an attack, right before the descent. I could get a good advantage and win a stage."

The stage was marred by a number of crashes but Paolini was able to stay calm and concentrated on the treacherous descent.

"My head was clear and I descended to the best of my ability," he said. "I heard that there were falls behind me, but we were all on the limit on the descent. 8km from the finish, I looked back and realized my advantage was big enough to win the stage.”

Prior to this season there was much debate over the decision by the UCI license commission not to grand the team a ProTeam license. Furthermore, the team did not receive a wild card to the Giro and was only allowed to participate due to a CAS ruling that overturned the license decision.

Paolini sees today's result as a testament to the team's deserved place amongst the best teams in the world.

“We’re demonstrating that we deserve to be in the Pro Tour. We’re a good team, we work hard, and we have directors who leave nothing to chance. Our results are due to the climate of harmony that reigns in this team.”

At 36 years Paolini makes a belated debut in his home grand tour and it is somewhat of a surprise for many that one of the most experienced Italian riders has never been at the start line of his biggest home race before. With the end of his career approaching Paolini wanted to get at least one chance to experience the event.

“Studying my race programme with my Directeurs in November, we wondered if I’d be able to ride a good classics season and then ride the Giro. I know I’m 36 years old, and I wanted to do it. So, after Paris-Roubaix, I had 7 days off the bike, then I rode the Tour of Turkey. That was the key factor. I arrived at the Giro in good condition, knowing that in the first three stages I had a chance of showing myself.”

Today's victory carries a special significance for the veteran Italian.

“My father Giovanni was in hospital today, for routine surgery. He managed to see some of the stage, and I spoke to him and dedicated the stage win to him. It was nice for me and for him because we are very close.”

Paolini is now the overall leader of the race but he insists that the main focus of the team is to support its designated GC leader Yury Trofimov who hopes to end in the overall top 10.

"Despite of the victory, our main goal here is to help Yuriy Trofimov and our young Russian riders, who can get a nice result here in Giro," he said. "But now, we will enjoy the victory, the pink jersey and will try to keep it as long as we can."

Both Trofimov and the team's other GC candidate Giampaolo Caruso managed to finish in the first chase group behind Paolini and are well-placed ahead of another expected battle between the GC favourites tomorrow. The mammoth 246km stage ends with a category 2 ascent and it will be tough for Paolini to defend his lead in terrain that could very well be too hard for the veteran Italian.

Starting at 14.15 you can follow all the action on CyclingQuotes.com/live.