Bradley Wiggins and Team Sky came under attack from key rivals Vincenzo Nibali (Astana) and Ryder Hesjedal (Garmin-Sharp) in the final part of yesterday's third stage of the Giro d'Italia. The team managed to save the day and avoid any time loss - expect some time bonus for Cadel Evans (BMC) and Hesjedal - in a stage they always expected to be an aggressive one.

Prior to the Giro d'Italia there had been much discussion of Bradley Wiggins's ability to handle the many lumpy, technical stages that make the Giro so much different from the Tour de France. In yesterday's third stage he got his first experience of such a stage in this year's race and his rivals immediately used the opportunity to attack.

While the Brit seemed to have everything under control when Ryder Hesjedal attacked on the final climb, he appeared to be much less comfortable on the descent. As the defending champion rode aggressively on the winding roads, the Sky leader was way behind in the completely strung out peloton and there is little doubt that the reigning Tour champion is happy to survive the day without any other time loss than the 12 and 8 seconds Cadel Evans and Hesjedal picked up on the line.

Sports director Marcus Ljungqvist said that the team always expected to be put under pressure on the lumpy route.

“We knew there would be a lot of teams going for it at the end and that’s how it played out," he said. "It was always going to be a tough finale and we were happy to come through it in a good position."

Wiggins was always surrounded by his strong Colombian duo of Rigoberto Uran and Sergio Henao who made sure that their British captain was always well-positioned. However, the latter took a tumble in the final part and arrived at the finish 20 seconds behind the group of the favourites.

" Sergio had a small crash on the descent which was a shame but he finished just off the lead group," Ljungqvist said.

With the team's Salvatore Puccio in the leader's jersey it was up to the British team to keep the day's early 7-man break under control. The team lived up to its responsibility by keeping the gap in check until Omega Pharma-Quick Step started to chase.

“We set a tempo on the front and Xabi [Zandio] and Danny [Pate] did a great job to control things there with the breakaway up the road," Ljungqvist said. "Today was really nice for Puccio and it was a great win yesterday. Now we are back to looking after Brad and making sure we are ready for the hard days coming up, starting tomorrow.”

Despite Puccio's best efforts he had to give up the lead to stage winner Luca Paolini (Katusha) and there is little doubt that it is huge relief for Wiggins that he can avoid the stress of leading the race for another day. However, he is now 2nd overall 17 seconds behind the veteran Italian and he will very likely find himself in the maglia rosa at the end of today's very touch stage to the southernmost point of this year's Giro d'Italia.

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