2012 Giro d'Italia, Stage 1 to Stage 11
Stage 3
Stage 3
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7 May 2012 — [Horsens](/wiki/Horsens "Horsens") (Denmark) to Horsens (Denmark), 
[thumb\|upright\|'s [Lars Bak](/wiki/Lars_Bak "Lars Bak") counter\-attacked the field for the second consecutive day, during the third stage – following the end of the breakaway – but failed to achieve a suitable gap over the peloton and was caught before the end.](/wiki/File:Lars_Bak_-_2012_-_giro_d%27italia.jpg "Lars Bak - 2012 - giro d'italia.jpg")
The third stage of the race was dedicated to Belgian rider [Wouter Weylandt](/wiki/Wouter_Weylandt "Wouter Weylandt") – the winner of the [third stage](/wiki/2010_Giro_d%27Italia%2C_Stage_1_to_Stage_11%23Stage_3 "2010 Giro d'Italia, Stage 1 to Stage 11#Stage 3") of the 2010 edition of the race into [Middelburg](/wiki/Middelburg%2C_Zeeland "Middelburg, Zeeland"), [Netherlands](/wiki/Netherlands "Netherlands") – after he crashed while descending the *Passo del Bocco* during the third stage of the [2011 race](/wiki/2011_Giro_d%27Italia "2011 Giro d'Italia"), and died of his injuries in the crash. A short ceremony, including a minute's silence led by  team members – Weylandt's former  team – was held prior to the stage in Horsens. As well as Weylandt, the mayor of Horsens, [Jan Trøjborg](/wiki/Jan_Tr%C3%B8jborg "Jan Trøjborg"), was also commemorated during the ceremony. Trøjborg, who had been a prevalent figure in bringing the Giro to Denmark, died on 6 May after suffering a heart attack during an amateur bicycle ride in [Jutland](/wiki/Jutland "Jutland").

Six riders made up the stage's breakaway, including sixth\-placed [Ramūnas Navardauskas](/wiki/Ram%C5%ABnas_Navardauskas "Ramūnas Navardauskas") (), but they could not gather more than three\-and\-a\-half minutes of an advantage throughout the entire parcours, and were all caught by around  remaining. As he had done the previous day, 's [Lars Bak](/wiki/Lars_Bak "Lars Bak") counter\-attacked the peloton as they caught the leaders, but he was caught on the final lap of a finishing circuit  in length, and thus setting up for an eventual bunch sprint to the finish line.  and  were towards the front although [Geraint Thomas](/wiki/Geraint_Thomas "Geraint Thomas") later sat up as [Mark Cavendish](/wiki/Mark_Cavendish "Mark Cavendish") was not directly behind him, and in effect leaving him without a lead\-out man.  brought their men forward inside the final kilometre; with [Tomas Vaitkus](/wiki/Tomas_Vaitkus "Tomas Vaitkus") and [Brett Lancaster](/wiki/Brett_Lancaster "Brett Lancaster") setting the pace for [Matthew Goss](/wiki/Matthew_Goss "Matthew Goss"), they moved to the head of the pack. Cavendish picked up the wheel of 's [Tyler Farrar](/wiki/Tyler_Farrar "Tyler Farrar") and they attacked down the outside of the road, moving forward at around  remaining.

 rider [Roberto Ferrari](/wiki/Roberto_Ferrari_%28cyclist%29 "Roberto Ferrari (cyclist)") tried to move from the left side of the road to the right side of it, but as he aggressively switched lanes, he clipped Cavendish, sending the world champion to the ground and causing the whole field to stack up behind. Among other riders to fall were overall leader [Taylor Phinney](/wiki/Taylor_Phinney "Taylor Phinney") () and  sprinter [Sacha Modolo](/wiki/Sacha_Modolo "Sacha Modolo"). In front of the chaos, Goss led out the sprint to take 's first Grand Tour win, and with the bonus seconds on offer at the finish, moved into the top ten overall, as well as taking the points classification lead from Cavendish;  rider [Juan José Haedo](/wiki/Juan_Jos%C3%A9_Haedo "Juan José Haedo") finished second ahead of Farrar. Ferrari, who had finished the stage ninth, was demoted to the end of the stage results, fined, and was penalised 30 seconds in the general classification and 25 points in the points classification; a decision that his team boss [Gianni Savio](/wiki/Gianni_Savio "Gianni Savio") had no qualms about, although Ferrari was remorseless when reflecting about his actions. Cavendish later [tweeted](/wiki/Twitter "Twitter") that Ferrari should be "ashamed to take out Pink, Red \& World Champ jerseys", and also questioned the decision to keep Ferrari in the race.

| **Stage 3 result**  |  | Rider | Team | Time | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 |  |  |  | | 2 |  |  | s.t. | | 3 |  |  | s.t. | | 4 |  |  | s.t. | | 5 |  |  | s.t. | | 6 |  |  | s.t. | | 7 |  |  | s.t. | | 8 |  |  | s.t. | | 9 |  |  | s.t. | | 10 |  |  | s.t. | |  | **General classification after stage 3**  |  | Rider | Team | Time | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 |  [20px\|Pink jersey](/wiki/File:Jersey_pink.svg "Jersey pink.svg")[20px\|White jersey](/wiki/File:Jersey_white.svg "Jersey white.svg") |  |  | | 2 |  |  | \+ 9" | | 3 |  |  | \+ 13" | | 4 |  |  | \+ 15" | | 5 |  |  | \+ 18" | | 6 |  |  | \+ 22" | | 7 |  |  | \+ 23" | | 8 |  [20px\|Red jersey](/wiki/File:Jersey_red.svg "Jersey red.svg") |  | \+ 23" | | 9 |  |  | \+ 24" | | 10 |  |  | \+ 26" | |
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How much time does the second-placed rider trail behind the leader?