Nicolas Roche has gotten into the thick of the sprinting action from the bunch at the end of stage 3 at Tour of the Alps today, having also attacked off the front late on the opening stage only to be caught.
The Irish rider had done the same at Volta a Catalunya on the opening stage last month before being forced out of the race after he was a close contact of a team staff member who tested for Covid-19.
Clearly intent on keeping in tune with his sprinting ability - something he was very capable at earlier in his career - he got into the hustle and bustle of the technical finish into Naturns today, for 11th on the stage.
The survivors from the breakaway mopped up the top 10 stage placings, with Gianni Moscon (Ineos Grenadiers), claiming a second victory to to his win on stage 1. He was fastest to the line from the escape group, after running Felix Großschartner (Bora-hansgrohe) wide out of the final bend to make it harder for him to pass.
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Those two emerged the strongest from a initial 14-man breakaway that had gone clear early in the day and gained a lead of over three minutes as the the BikeExchange team of race leader Simon Yates rode to ensure the gap did not become unwieldy.
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The pressure of the climbs that littered the course split the breakaway, which formed into two groups for a time. Pello Bilbao (Bahrain Victorious), who was 10th overall starting the stage, got across to the second half of the breakaway late in the day in a bid to gain time. Shortly after, the two groups up front eventually merged again, making for 10 men clear.
Moscon won the sprint from Großschartner with Roche's Team DSM team mate Michael Storer taking 3rd place. Roche led the peloton home 48 seconds after Moscon crossed the line; the bunch having closed much of the gap to the escape group by the finish.
Bilbao's presence in the breakaway and the time gains he made as a result saw him jump from 10th to 3rd overall. He nudged Dan Martin (Israel Start-Up Nation) down one place on the GC to 4th. Martin finished in the peloton today, which was reduced to just 57 riders.
Yates, yesterday's stage winner, still leads overall by 45 seconds from Pavel Sivakov; the Ineos Grenadiers rider crashing heavily today but managing to get back on to the peloton. Bilbao is now 3rd some 1:04 down on Yates, with Dan Martin in 4th on the same time with two stages remaining.
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