Despite goats and a dog, Pedersen makes it 2 wins out of 3 at Giro to take back pink jersey

VLORE, Albania — Even goats and a dog couldn't distract Mads Pedersen.

The third stage of the Giro d'Italia all went to plan for Pedersen, who won a bunch sprint to reclaim the leader's pink jersey with his second victory in this year's race.

Pedersen, who rides for Lidl-Trek, edged Corbin Strong by half a wheel at the end of the hilly 160-kilometer (99-mile) leg that started and finished in the Albanian coastal city of Vlore.

Orluis Aula was third.

Pedersen also won the opening stage on Friday but had seen pre-race favorite Primoz Roglic take the pink jersey from him on Saturday.

Pedersen has moved back into pink, ahead of two more sprint stages back in Italy. The Danish cyclist has a nine-second lead over Roglic and is 14 seconds ahead of Mathias Vacek.

''Wow, to have two stage victories already and now back in the pink, that's exactly what we wanted today,'' Pedersen said. "This was the plan this morning.

''We wanted to put a good pace on the long climb, to control it for ourselves and give me a chance to breathe there so I didn't need to go over the limit. Everyone from the team did a super amazing job on the climb and before. And then it was about controlling as far as we could."

Debut goat

Pedersen's plan almost didn't go to plan, though, as a dog raced across the road in the finale, narrowly avoiding the surging, Lidl-Trek-driven peloton, with just over 2 kilometers remaining.

Earlier, several goats scampered across the road, with riders having to swerve to avoid them and New Zealand cyclist Dion Smith almost ending up in a ditch.

''First time for a goat for me,'' Smith said with a laugh.

"I didn't have too much time to think but I could see it 10 seconds before, the policeman trying to keep them all in and then one or two started coming across and I don't know which way I was going to go, but luckily I stayed up."

Race leaving Albania

It was the last of three stages in Albania before the peloton makes the short transfer across the Adriatic to the Italian region of Puglia, where the race will resume on Tuesday after a rest day.

The fourth stage travels through much of the heel of Italy along a mostly flat, 189-kilometer route from the UNESCO World Heritage site of Alberobello to Lecce. It should end in another bunch sprint.

The race ends in Rome on June 1.

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AP cycling: https://apnews.com/hub/cycling