Zonneveld shares Giro boss Vegni's amazement at passive peloton "And then they'll complain after three weeks..."

The third stage featured a tough 10.5-kilometer climb at 7.4 percent, with the summit 38 kilometers from the finish. A breakaway group of six quickly got the green light before Lidl-Trek controlled the race for Pedersen as announced. They even got help from Red Bull-BORA-Hansgrohe, riding for pink jersey wearer Primoz Roglic. However, the Slovenian lost the pink jersey because Pedersen won the stage and picked up 10 bonus seconds.

"Honor the pink jersey," Zonneveld frequently hears. But he thinks that's nonsense. "It's nice to say that to the organization or the Italian public. But Red Bull rode along only to make friends with Lidl-Trek. You could see that 10 kilometers from the finish when both teams' cars rode side by side. 'Good luck in the sprint!' Red Bull will get that back."

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There was minimal action before and during the climb, something that Giro boss Mauro Vegni did not understand. "The start of this race was designed to create an exciting stage, but the riders must make the difference. I expected more from today; some riders didn't try very hard to save energy," said the Italian on RAI Sport. Zonneveld agreed. "I think Lidl and Red Bull thought it would be a more challenging day, especially on that last climb."

However, that didn't happen, which Zonneveld believes is a worrying trend in grand tours. "Teams think: our chance will come. But the pressure increases towards the end of a race like this, and some teams haven't won anything yet. Then suddenly everyone has to be there, and you end up with stages where there are attacks for three hours, after which the strongest riders still manage to break away because it's so tough."

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"A day like stage 3 was a tremendous opportunity for breakaway riders if you kept attacking long enough and were determined to go for it. However, only a few were interested," Zonneveld sighed. "10.5 kilometers at 7.4 percent, a really tough climb. If a team seriously takes the lead from the bottom and pushes the pace, you will see the peloton split up. Just look at what happened when Pidcock pushed on at 80 or 90 percent, 800 meters from the top... Pedersen immediately dropped back 30 positions, but no one else tried."

And he thinks that's bizarre behavior for many teams. "Why doesn't Astana put Wout Poels in the lead, with Diego Ulissi on his wheel? Then you'd drop Pedersen and be left with 20 or 30 men. Now they're sending two small climbers ahead, but that makes no sense. Astana ninth and twelfth, Decathlon seventh, Bahrain fifth... If you're riding for results like that... Tudor also had a lot of riders who could go much faster. If you don't make the most of it, nothing happens. And then, after three weeks, they will complain that the big teams didn't leave anything for them. I don't understand that."