So Greipel hasn't abandoned after all...well, he has now

As of this morning, for reasons I don't quite know, I was under the assumption that Andre Greipel had already abandoned the Giro. Which was surprising to me given the profile of today's stage with not a single rise on the road. If ever there was a day designed for the fast men, then this was it. As a result of my assumption I was trying to think on who might win the days gallop now that Marcel Kittel and Greipel had gone home.

But he hadn't, and no wonder. Imagine though my surprise when I did tune in with just two kilometres to go, with that Italian commentary again, and all I could hear was the name Greipel and all I could see was the Lotto-Soudal team moving up towards the front. The big man was still very much a part of this race and he was going for his third stage win of the race. There was never going to be any doubt.

Caleb Ewan made more of a fist of it than anyone else managed in Greipel's previous two wins, but even he came up a few lengths short, though partly because he had to check his sprint when he decided to come over Greipel's right shoulder and realised there was no room between the German and the barriers. Would Ewan have won had he gone the other way? We'll never know, but now that Greipel is indeed bowing out of the race ahead of the terrain that will never suit him, to rest and recover for other targets over the summer, perhaps Ewan will get his chance on one of the few remaining flat stages.

There was no change in the overall.

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Over in at the Tour of California, yesterday, Peter Sagan won yet again. No longer in contention to win the overall classification, Sagan is sweeping up all other stages beyond that of the queen stage that he lost big time on a few days ago. Stage 5 is underway as I write this, so we'll see what it brings.