For the second day in a row, Cannondale brought Elia Viviani into the perfect position for the sprint when Oscar Gatto and Daniele Ratto led their sprinter through the difficult final turns but again the Italian cam up short against the superior Marcel Kittel. Viviani admits that Kittel is currenly very hard to beat but promises to keep trying.

The third and final day of racing on the Emerald Isle concluded with an 187km ride from Armagh to the Irish capital of Dublin. The third stage didn’t look challenging on paper, but what the profile couldn’t offer, the weather conditions made up for. It was another day of cool temperatures, strong winds, and intermittent rain.

After getting close with Elia Viviani in stage two, Cannondale Pro Cycling was ready to try again. This time, a technical finish could play to their excellent teamwork. Ivan Basso, ever smiling, knows how to ride with an eye toward saving energy, and he could be relied upon to have the team in the right places at the right times to make sure they came through the day unscathed.

The day’s breakaway started as soon as the flag was waved. Belkin’s Maarten Tjallingii, with the blue jersey of King of the Mountains leader on his back, was the first to rush off the front. He was quickly joined by four others.

With the weather unsettled, the break concentrated on riding smoothly. Tjallingii focused on adding to his KoM lead; at his size, he needs to build a lead on the smaller hills because he won’t be able to contend in the big mountains. The field, meanwhile, had three goals; keeping the break close, staying warm, and staying upright. It’s hard to get clothing just right on wet days, and riders were continuously adding and removing layers to make sure they neither overheated nor overcooled. Cannondale’s Moreno Moser was in charge of both bringing clothes forward and back and bringing bottles up. Adding to the confusion were several crashes that slowed the peloton and caused many riders to burn energy chasing.

The break’s lead quickly went up to almost six minutes, but then quickly dropped to two minutes, and then yo-yoed for hours, as the field would work together to bring them close, then back off when the break was close enough.

In the midst of the mess, Basso flatted. As is his style, he calmly waited for a new front wheel, and smoothly rode back up to the field with the help of a teammate.

The break, never far away, was in sight of the field with 15km remaining. But the field didn’t want to catch them too soon, so the field spread wide across the road for several kilometers, jostling for position, never finishing the kill.

With eight kilometers (5mi) remaining, the break was absorbed, and the teams went to work. Cannondale sent most of the team to the front to control the pace for Viviani. With five turns in the last 1.5km, positioning was going to be crucial.

Kilometer after kilometer, the Green Team rode at the front, with other teams challenging them, then fading back. As the turns started, Cannondale still had three riders protecting Viviani. Then two. Then one. Going into the last turn, Cannondale still had one rider protecting Viviani, with the rest of the field strung out behind.  Viviani hit the front with Sky’s Ben Swift on his wheel, and yesterday’s winner Marcel Kittel of Giant, a few bike lengths behind.

As they charged to the line, Kittel produced an amazing burst of speed, coming around Swift and Viviani before the line. And that was how they finished.

Viviani was realistic about the result in Dublin. 

“I did my best and my teammates as well, but against Kittel there’s not much to do. The final kilometers were very technical and the sprint was managed perfectly by my team. They did really amazing work driving me in the finale. I thought it was head-to-head between me and Swift, then I saw Kittel passing.

"I know my performance was good and the only way to beat Kittel is to try and try. He’s very strong, but I have a great condition, too. I look forward to racing with better weather. Also today I proved I’m in the front. In Bari, I’ll exploit all the chances for sprint finish.”

Tomorrow is a travel day for the Giro d’Italia. Racing resumes Tuesday, with an 112km stage from Giovinazzo to Bari. The course is again fairly flat.  Cannondale Pro Cycling will again set up Viviani for another shot at stage victory. The third time is the charm.