Tour: Girmay wins 3rd stage, Carapaz takes yellow jersey

(ANSA) - ROME, JUL 1 - Eritrea's Biniam Girmay won the third stage of the Tour de France and the last to take place in Italy Monday, from Piacenza to Turin through the heart of Fausto Coppi country near Alessandria in Piedmont, and Tokyo Olympic champ Richard Carapaz took the leader's yellow jersey from Slovenian two-time winner, two-time runner-up and pre-race favourite Tadej Pogacar of Slovenia.
    Pogacar, who won the Tour in 2020 and 2021 and came second to Denmark's Jonas Vingegaard the last two years, is bidding to be the first rider since the late Marco Pantani in 1998 to do the Giro-Tour double.
    This year's Tour started off in Florence on Saturday and arrived in Rimini Sunday before starting out from Piacenza Monday and running through the home region of Fausto Coppi, who became the first man to do the Giro-Tour double in 1949, 75 years ago, and repeated the feat in 1952.
    Pogacar, who has been likened to ex 'cannibal' Eddie Merckx, was expected to be first over the Cima Coppi highest point at Cote de Tortone Monday but instead Norway's Jonas Abrahamsen crested the race's highest Italian peak near the town where Coppi died aged 40 in 1960.
    The great cyclist's children Faustino and Marina were there, thrilled by all the people out on the roads where their father's legend started.
    The Tour, which ends in Paris in three weeks time, now leaves Italy on stage four Tuesday from Pinerolo to Valloire in the French Alps. (ANSA).