Przemyslw Niemiec (Miche) won the third stage of the Settimana Coppi e Bartoli in Pavullo after a breakaway. He beat Ivan Santaromita (Liquigas-Doimo) in a two-up sprint after the pair escaped on the final climb less than 10km from the finish. Riccardo Riccò (Ceramica Flaminia), just days after the end of his suspension, was once again the best of the rest, taking third place 48 seconds later.
The early part of the 185.3km rolling stage, around the Emilia-Romagna town of Pavullo, was dominated by an attack of six riders. Dmytro Grabovskyy (Isd Neri), Simon Clarke (ISD-Neri), Cristiano Salerno (De Rosa-Stac Plastic), Rubens Bertogliati (Androni Giocattoli), Kristian Fajt (Adria Mobil) and Giuseppe Muraglia (CDC-Cavaliere) escaped after 21km. The sextet built a maximum lead of 3’15” at 55km before the peloton began to pull them back.
At the start of the day’s main climb, the 1217m Valico del Barigazzo, when the group had just under a minute, Clarke and Muraglia left the other four behind but were unable to prevent the peloton from closing the gap further. As they approached the top of the climb, Clarke set off alone but was caught by what was left of the main bunch, which included Riccò, Emanuele Sella (Carmiooro-NGC) and Giovanni Visconti (ISD-Neri).
In the final 20km, the group split further with sixteen riders breaking clear of the rest, quickly creating a gap of 30 seconds. With 10km to go, with the group hesitating, Niemiec and Santaromita managed to escape. Riccò, Jose Serpa (Androni Giocattoli), Domenico Pozzovivo (Colnago-CSF Inox) and Sergio Pardilla (Carmiooro-NGC) gave chase but were unable to catch the pair. Niemec won the sprint to take his first win of the season.
Despite losing the sprint, Santaromita had the consolation of taking over the race lead from teammate Oliver Zaugg.
Result stage 3
1. Przemyslw Niemiec (Pol) Miche
2. Ivan Santaromita (Ita) Liquigas-Doimo
3. Riccardo Riccò (Ita) Ceramica Flaminia @ 48s
4. Domenico Pozzovivo (Ita) Colnago-CSF Inox @ 49s
5. Sergio Pardilla (Spa) Carmiooro-NGC @ 55s
6. José Rodolfo Serpa Perez (Col) Androni Giocattoli-Serramenti Pvc Diquigiovanni @ 1'13"
7. Fortunato Baliani (Ita) Miche @ 1'31"
8. Ruslan Pydgornyy (Ukr) De Rosa-Stac Plastic
9. Riccardo Chiarini (Ita) De Rosa-Stac Plastic
10. Leonardo Bertagnolli (Ita) Androni Giocattoli-Serramenti Pvc Diquigiovanni
Standings after stage 3
1. Ivan Santaromita (Ita) Liquigas-Doimo
2. Riccardo Riccò (Ita) Ceramica Flaminia @ 58s
3. Przemyslw Niemiec (Pol) Miche @ 1'12"