A three-way split at the finish of stage three of the Tour of the Alps saw Dan Martin slip just off his podium position, thought the Irish rider is still on the same time as third place with two stages remaining.
After three hard climbs before another downhill finish into Naturno in Italy, Gianni Moscon of Ineos Grenadiers took his second stage win in three days, beating Felix Grobschartner (Bora-Hansgrohe) in a sprint to the line.
In the second group, who closed to just a second behind, was Spanish rider Pello Bilbao of Bahrain-Victorious, who with that moved from 10th overall to third, at 1:04 behind the overall leader Adam Yates (Team BikeExchange). Bilbao is now on the same time as Martin.
Nicholas Roche rode strongly again to at the front of the third group, 49 seconds down, in 11th place, and he now sits 26th overall (3:21 down on Yates).
Traditionally the last big test before the Giro d’Italia next month, Martin will seek to regain the podium position in Thursday’s Stage 4, which features three major climbs before another downhill finish into Pieve di Bono.
There was no joy again for his Israel Start-Up Nation team mate Chris Froome, who after losing five minutes and 13 seconds on stage one, another 14 minutes and 19 seconds on stage two, the British rider lost another eight minutes and seven seconds, now back in 98th on GC, a full 27 minutes down.
