Domenico Pozzovivo is using the Giro del Trentino to prepare for the Giro d'Italia and today he proved that he is ready to lead Ag2r in his home grand tour when he finished second in the third stage of the Italian race. The Italian is now second on GC and will try to make an assault on overall leader Cadel Evans in tomorrow's queen stage.

As a pure climber, Domenico Pozzovivo is perfectly suited to the Giro del Trentino which made up almost entirely of mountain stages. The history speaks volumes about his abilities in the race as he had finished in the top 5 five years in a row when he crashed out of last year's edition and he even won the race in 2012.

This year he is again in the mix as he again uses the mountainous race to prepare for the Giro d'Italia. After creating the key selection in yesterday's first summit finish, he was even more in his favoured terrain in today's stage that finished on a short, very steep climb that suited the tiny Pozzovivo perfectly.

Pozzovivo managed to follow race leader Cadel Evans almost all the way to the line but inside the final 400m, he had to surrender to the strong Australian. However, he crossed the line in 2nd, losing only 3 seconds, and moved himself into 2nd on GC, 45 seconds behind leader Evans.

"Today's stage was rolling with a very hard finish," Ag2r sports director Laurent Biondi said. "The team worked well in the finale to bring Domenico into position for the final 1.5km.. Then it was just about strength. With 400m to go, Domenico was still with Cadel Evans but the Australian was much stronger.

"Tonight Domenico is second overall. We have to stay focused for tomorrow because the stage looks very difficult, especially the final climb. In any case, this bodes well for the Giro, the group is strong and confident around Domenico. "