What Polanc succeeded in doing today is incredible. He obviously planned today’s race very well, after training at Mt. Etna earlier this spring. It first seemed that the four-man breakaway group would not have any success. The main group of cyclists, which trailed by eight minutes and a half, was quickly catching up. But Polanc decided to bite into the 18 kilometer-long ascent on Mt. Etna (1892 m). In some parts of the ascent the gradient was even 12 percent. After two kilometers of the ascent Polanc was all alone, and he then managed to secure the biggest victory in his career.

Pink jersey goes to Bob Jungels
The 25-year-old native of Kranj stole the limelight from the other race favourites, who decided to play it safe as it was clear that the fourth stage of the three-week race would not be decisive. Jan Polanc’s first pursuer, Russian Ilnur Zakarin, finished the race 19 seconds behind Polanc. A big group of cyclists arrived at the finish line another 10 seconds later. Among them was also (in 10th place) the Sicilian Vincenzo Nibali. This was only his third hometown race in his career. The new overall leader of this year’s Giro d’Italia is now Bob Jungels from Luxembourg, who finished seventh today.

Polanc’s second Giro stage victory
"Incredible, I’m really happy. Probably no one expected the breakaway to succeed, as we no longer had a big lead before the last ascent. There were four of us in the group and it was very difficult," said the 25-year-old Polanc, a member of the UAE Team Emirates. He has now become the first Slovenian with two stage victories at the biggest three-week cycling races. He also won a Giro stage in 2015. This is also the fourth consecutive year for Slovenian cycling to have its hero (Mezgec 2014, Polanc 2015, Roglič 2016) among the winners of a Grand Tour stage.
Tomaž Okorn; translated by K. J.