Mads Pedersen, the 'Great Dane' of the peloton, has won his third stage out of the first five in the 108th edition of the Giro d'Italia on a day when Australia's main overall hope Michael Storer again demonstrated his readiness for the fray.
Strongman Pedersen delivered another herculean effort to edge to what he called an "insane" hat-trick in Matera on Wednesday, hitting out in a long-range sprint after a hilly final 20km and holding off the blistering finish of Italian Edoardo Zambanini (Bahrain Victorious).
But the encouraging sight for Australian fans at the side of the road was Tudor Pro leader Storer, who's been sprightly throughout the race so far, getting into the sprint denouement - not his preferred territory - yet still mixing it impressively to finish in an excellent sixth spot.
Storer, a former King of the Mountains champ at La Vuelta, remains ninth overall before the race gets into his favourite mountainous terrain, 46 seconds down on former world champ Pedersen, who's holding on to the leader's pink jersey in inspirational fashion until he inevitably gets stripped of it amid the high peaks.
The Australian, who's already put together his best ever time trial on the second stage, is less than half-a-minute behind second-placed race favourite Primoz Roglic, who's ominously well placed, just 17 seconds behind Pedersen after the Dane gained a 10-second win bonus at the line.
Britain's double Olympic mountain bike champion Tom Pidcock (Q36.5) finished third after the 151km fifth stage from Ceglie Messapica in southern Italy.
"Did I win? Are you sure?" an exhausted Pedersen asked a teammate after the finish at the UNESCO World Heritage site of Matera, renowned for its ancient cave dwellings.
It really was that close, with Pedersen unsure he'd made it when Bahrain-Victorious's Zambanini came steaming up unseen on his inside alongside the barriers.
"Now it's really incredible, and to win in this (leader's pink) jersey as well, it's insane and it's way more than I ever dreamt about," said Pedersen, who only the day before had signed a deal which will tie the 29-year-old former world champ to his US team Lidl-Trek for the rest of his distinguished career.
For the moment, the race is all about the nine-time Grand Tour stage winner Pedersen, who says he'll go all out to make it double figures in Thursday's sixth stage, the longest of the three-week race, at 227km, from Potenza to Naples.
