‘Who?’ you may be thinking. And yes, it is a bit like that, but you may have been thinking much the same thing when Simon Yates won a stage last year. Good young riders often make themselves known in these slightly smaller races.
Zardini got away on the Tumble and if my tip, Nicolas Roche, caught and passed him, it wasn’t for long. Zardini had what every cyclist dreams of, a second wind, and shot away to secure the win.
You can’t say he isn’t in with a chance of winning the race overall because he’s clearly a strong rider, but I think the favourites are perhaps those lurking just behind him. Michal Kwiatkowski came second and is just 13 seconds down. I’d bet on him snatching victory in the final day’s super short time trial, but Nicolas Roche is okay against the clock too and he’s 17 seconds down, while Bradley Wiggins has 24 seconds to make up. Wiggins looked fairly ordinary on the Tumble, but stick him on a time trial bike and everything seems to sort itself out.
Stage four
Not as big a deal as the Tumble, but another uphill finish.
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