Grande Partenza gallery: Albania sets the tone for a dramatic and unpredictable Giro d'Italia

The Giro d'Italia's Grande Partenza in Albania showcased dramatic racing, with Mads Pedersen taking the early lead.

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Grande Partenza gallery: Albania sets the tone for a dramatic and unpredictable Giro d'Italia

Mads Pedersen leads the Giro d'Italia after the opening three stages after winning two out of three stages on Albanian soil.

Gruber Images, Kristof Ramon and Cor Vos

The Giro d'Italia is now well underway, meaning we are firmly in Grand Tour season – the summer of cycling is here, people! Since the start of the Grande Partenza on Friday, there have been plenty of firsts, a couple of hard-fought breakaways, a goat infiltrating the peloton, top riders playing hot potato with the pink jersey, and, sadly, one particularly nasty race-influencing crash. And all in central and southern Albania, just – if a nine-hour ferry trip can be called 'just' – over the Adriatic Sea from the heel of Italy.

As the circus that is a Grand Tour caravan prepares to make the hop, skip and jump over the sea to the Giro's homeland, Mads Pedersen is the man wrapped in pink after winning both road stages, with 21-year-old Josh Tarling not having to wait too long – but enduring a nerve-racking wait on the day itself – for his maiden Grand Tour stage win.

Next comes a rare early rest day to accommodate travel – flights for the riders, overnight ferry trips for vehicles and assigned staff – then the first of 18 stages on Italian soil. But before stage 4, let's tuck into a gallery of images from our photographer friends Kristof Ramon, Cor Vos, and Chris Auld for Gruber Images.

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