Giro 2026: Magnier encore, burned Milan. Silva remains in pink

Paul Magnier of Soudal-Quick Step won the third stage of the Giro d’Italia, the last on Bulgarian soil, from Plovdiv to the capital Sofia. At the end of the 175-kilometer route, the French rider (who had already won the first stage in Burgas) burned through Lidl-Trek’s Jonathan Milan, Azzurro, and Dylan Groenewegen of Unibet Rose Rockets in a sprint.

At the top of the general classification, nothing changes: Uruguayan Thomas Silva of XDS Astana Team remains in the pink jersey and will land in Italy with 4″ to defend over Florian Stork, German of Tudor Pro Cycling Team, and Egan Bernal, Colombian of Netcompany Ineos as well as one of the main candidates for the final victory of the Corsa Rosa.

The Giro now stops for the first of three rest Mondays on the calendar: the Carovana Rosa will depart for Calabria, on whose roads the Giro’s fourth stage will take place, from Catanzaro to Cosenza of 138 kilometers in total. An averagely complex route that of the next stage, as the second-category GPM of Cozzo Tunino (11 kilometers of climbing at an average of 5.9 percent, with peaks of 11 percent) could play into the hands of an interesting breakaway finding itself 44 kilometers from the finish.

The weather is also expected to be favorable: 21 to 23 degrees with clear skies, some wind at the start but not at the finish. Cosenza has hosted a stage finish at the Giro 10 times: the last was 37 years ago, in 1989 (starting from Scilla), and was won by Swiss cyclist Rolf Järmann.