Luca Paolini wins, Cadel Evans second in Giro third stage Cadel Evans came second after Italian Luca Paolini during the third stage of the Giro d'Italia. Picture: Bryn Lennon/Getty Images Source: Getty Images CADEL Evans claimed a 12 second time bonus for finishing second in the third stage of the Giro d'Italia won by local rider Luca Paolini. The Italian's victory sees him take the overall leader's pink jersey following the 222km ride from Sorrento to Marina di Ascea on Monday. Evans edged out reigning Giro champion Ryder Hesjedal in a bunch sprint finish as the overall favourites finished in a small group 16 seconds back. Paolini took over the leader's jersey from countryman Salvatore Puccio of Team Sky, who was distanced on the final climb. Paolini, who is riding in his first Giro d'Italia at the age of 36, timed his break to perfection on the descent of the Sella Di Catona, attacking 6.5 kilometres from the finish. "It's incredible to win like that and take the pink jersey as well," Paolini said. My father was in hospital today for a minor operation and so this pink jersey is for him. I suffered to stay on during the climb and tried to ride at my pace. I knew there was a little climb near the finish and know I can descend pretty well. I went for it. I rode as if it was a (one-day) classic. The Katusha rider now leads from reigning Tour de France champion Bradley Wiggins by 17 seconds with the latter's Sky teammate Rigoberto Uran third on the same time as his team leader. But the big winners were Evans and Hesjedal who needed to make up time after losing chunks on Sunday's team time-trial. Evans is now 12th overall and 42 seconds behind Paolini with the time bonus, while Canada's Hesjedal picked up eight seconds to be seventh overall and 34 seconds from the lead. The Canadian was the main protagonist in an exciting end to the stage. Around 20km from home Hesjedal's Garmin team upped the pace on a tough gradient before their team leader sprung a surprise attack on that final climb. Nibali's Astana team took up the chase and reeled in Hesjedal but the reigning champion kept the pressure up on the descent before Paolini burst clear. Hesjedal's initial attack had momentarily dropped Evans but the BMC rider recovered and by the end he was the main winner amongst the overall contenders. Wiggins finished comfortably in eighth place in the reduced bunch. With AP