David Millar, Giro d'Italia stage 3 In the tradition of early Grand Tour stages, stage 3 of the Giro included several crashes and finished with a crazy mass sprint (that also included a crash). Though David Millar (right getting bike change) and Magnus Backstedt were involved in pile-ups, both finished today’s stage.

David, Christian Vande Velde and Ryder Hesjedal all managed to finish on the same time as race leader Pellizotti, maintaining their respective time gaps. Ryder was happy to finish a solid 18th on the stage.

“Today was another stressful one! Too many crashes to count and a very fast, dangerous final,” said Ryder. “I ended up being near the front just because that was where Christian was, but it was also the safest place to be!”

“I am looking forward to getting stronger as the race moves on and we will see where opportunity presents itself.”

Slipstream Results Stage 3
1. Daniele Bennati 5:37′01″

18. Ryder Hesjedal mt
22. Christian Vande Velde mt
40. David Millar mt
154. Danny Pate +1′07″
165. Magnus Backstedt +5′19″
166. Chris Sutton +5′19″
180. Julian Dean +7′40
190. Pat McCarty +8′

Slipstream GC
1. Franco Pellizotti 11:52′17″
2. Christian Vande Velde +1″
3. Danilo Di Luca +7″
4. Morris Possoni +8″
5. Vincenzo Nibali +8″

76. David Millar +2′14″
87. Ryder Hesjedal +2′54″
168. Danny Pate +14′40″
171. Julian Dean +15′26″
179. Magnus Backstedt +16′50″
191. Chris Sutton +21′15″
192. Pat McCarty +21′33″