Watch all the action from the 2023 Giro d'Italia on SBS VICELAND from May 6-28, with all the replays and highlights on plus news, analysis and much more on the SBS Sport website.
Matthews jumped first in the sprint and was never headed as he powered past Pedersen’s Trek-Segafredo leadout for an impressive win. The final sprint came at the end of a hilly finale of the 213km stage, which had seen a number of sprinters dropped on the ascents that summitted within 30 kilometres of the line.
Pedersen and Groves had their chance to launch their sprint, but couldn’t match the Canberran as he took the third Giro stage win of his career, eight years on from his last success in Sestri Levante, up the other end of Italy.
“Honestly, I’m just speechless,” Matthews said. “What I’ve been through these last few months, to now come back with a victory for the team.
“We rode all day today, and they were fully committed to me for the stage. I don’t have words for the moment. It’s been such a rollercoaster this year, and now already on stage 3 with a stage win, it’s more than I could ever dream of."
The race wasn’t a particularly aggressive affair, but it was made tough by Jayco-AlUla’s pressure on the climb, with particularly Filippo Zana doing a strong turn to put the peloton under stress on the main climb of the stage.
“I heard that Pedersen was dropped on the climb, so I was hoping he would be a little bit pinned for the sprint,” said Matthews, “and I just knew I needed to go a bit early and get the jump on them. Yeah, it worked out.
“At the moment, it’s just been a rollercoaster for me. I just came here to this Giro to have fun, to enjoy riding my bike with my teammates and being with my team. Today it was such a team effort. That was for the boys.”
Race leader Remco Evenepoel (Soudal QuickStep) solidified his hold on the pink jersey by taking out the intermediate sprint and the three bonus seconds available, though it was only a one second-swing to big rival Primoz Roglic (Jumbo-Visma) in second.
The only general classification rival to have a scare was Joao Almeida (UAE Team Emirates) who crashed with 15 kilometres to go, though he was able to chase back on relatively quickly.
Thibaut Pinot (Groupama-FDJ) made it clear that he has his eye on the climber’s jersey as he made a surge to pick up maximum points on the Valico dei Laghi di Monticchio and move into the classification lead.
The Giro d'Italia continues with stage 4 tonight, a 176-kilometre medium mountain stage that could see a change in race leadership. Join the action on SBS On Demand from 8.20pm AEST, with SBS VICELAND picking up the coverage from 9.20pm AEST.
