From a first ever race win at Rás Tailteann to Giro d'Italia glory | Video | Sticky Bottle

*Taco van der Hoorn was delighted with his stage win at Giro d'Italia today. It came almost exactly five years after taking his first ever victory in a UCI-ranked race at Rás Tailteann in Ireland*

Five years after taking his first ever victory in a UCI-ranked race, at Rás Tailteann in Ireland, Taco van der Hoorn has claimed the biggest victory of his career at Giro d'Italia.

The 27-year-old Dutch rider, competing for WorldTour team Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert Matériaux, got clear in the day's eight-man breakaway today on the 190km stage 3 from Biella to Canale.

When that breakaway was whittled down to just two riders in the finale, Van der Hoorn was one of them and he decided to attack his last remaining rival, Simon Pellaud (Androni Giocattoli-Sidermec), with just 8km to go.

😱 When your legs are burning but you can't give up!

😱 Quando le gambe bruciano ma tu non ti puoi arrendere!

Powered by @supersapiensinc #Giro pic.twitter.com/qncXUzGoL5

— Giro d'Italia (@giroditalia) May 10, 2021

At that point the peloton was just 41 seconds back the road and it looked like a mission impossible for Van der Hoorn. The bunch was being led by Elia Viviani's Cofidis team after Peter Sagan's Bora-hansgrohe had ridden hard through the stage on the climbs in a bid to drop most of the sprinters.

However, once Van der Hoorn was clear on his own his advantage briefly shot out to one minute. And though a small chase group in between him and the peloton was caught, Cofidis did not have enough power to bring back the lone leader.

Van der Hoorn buried himself coming in the road and as he rounded the last bend and checked behind him he could barely believe he was going to win a stage in his first Grand Tour.

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But win the stage he did; taking time for a brilliant celebration and still having four seconds to spare on what remained of the peloton. Davide Cimolai (Israel Start-Up Nation) won the sprint for 2nd place from Sagan and Viviani.

*Dutch rider Taco van der Hoorn, then of the Join-S De Rijke team, wins his first ever UCI-ramked race, the opening stage of the An Post Rás into Multyfarnham back in 2016 (Photo: Sean Rowe)*

The stage result means Filippo Ganna (Ineos Grenadiers) retains the race lead, with young Jumbo Visma rider Tobias Foss in 2nd at 16 seconds. Remco Evenepoel is 3rd overall at 20 seconds and on the same time as his Deceuninck-QuickStep team mate João Almeida in 4th.

Back in 2016 Van der Hoorn claimed the opening stage of Rás Tailteann, from Dublin to Multyfarnham, after attacking the breakaway and just holding on; like he did today.

When he rode Rás Tailteann he was with Continental outfit Cyclingteam Join's-De Rijke. His stage 1 victory was his first ever win in a UCI-ranked race. He also claimed the first yellow jersey of the race that day.

The early breakaway was mostly intent on competing for the intermediate sprint points and climbers' points, including king of the mountains Vincenzo Albanese, on front, of EOLO-Kometa. However, Van der Hoorn kept his eyes on the biggest prize and had the legs to go it alone

Since then he has won a number of other races including the Primus Classic and a stage of the Binck Bank Tour, both in 2018. And since his breakthrough at Rás Tailteann he has also spent two seasons riding for ProContinental team Roompot-Nederlandse Loterij and for WorldTour team Jumbo-Visma.

He joined new WorldTour team Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert Matériaux this year on a one-year contract and has now hit the jackpot with a Giro stage win, taking it in fine style.

Dan Martin (Israel Start-Up Nation) and Nicolas Roche (Team DSM) both finished in the main peloton today. The bunch numbered just 109 riders such was the pace Bora-hansgrohe set for much of the day. Martin was 37th and Roche finished 63rd.

More to come.