Having opted for Paris-Nice over attempting a third straight Tirreno-Adriatico victory, Vincenzo Nibali (Astana) has stayed quiet so far – taking a few turns on the front of the bunch but otherwise simply staying out of trouble to leave him nicely placed overall.
The Shark is 29 seconds off the overall lead and it well-placed to make an attack during the rest of the week as he bids to add the yellow jersey to an already glittering palmares.
Rui Costa (Lampre-Merida), Rafal Majka (Tinkoff-Saxo) and Movistar’s Izagirre brothers are also on the same time as Nibali. Though the likes of Romain Bardet (Ag2r-La Mondiale) and Simon Gerrans (Orica-GreenEDGE) have seen their GC ambitions shattered by being caught behind crashes on stages one and two, the race for the yellow jersey is still very much open as we approach the business end of the 72nd ‘Race to the Sun’.
