Thomas and Yates toil on Mount Etna

GERAINT THOMAS saw his Giro d’Italia hopes extinguished by a stray water bottle and Simon Yates faltered badly as the British challenge took a battering on Mount Etna.

Jonathan Caicedo won stage three from a breakaway, narrowly missing out on the leader’s pink jersey which moved on to the shoulders of Joao Almeida, but the biggest moves in the general classification came as Thomas and Yates, the two main pre- race favourites, slid out the back.

Thomas was felled before the flag had even dropped to start the 150km stage from Enna, running over a stray bidon that rolled across the road and landing heavily on his left side.

He initially looked untroubled beyond some rips in his jersey as he got back in the peloton, but when the pace was ignited on the approach to Etna, Thomas soon fell back and it was obvious he was carrying hidden injuries.

Ineos Grenadiers team- mates Rohan Dennis and Filippo Ganna, the latter still in pink after his opening stage win, did their best to pace him back but it was clear this was a losing cause and by the summit of the volcano he had shipped over 12 minutes.

Ineos sports director Matteo

Tosatto said Thomas would undergo checks, with his continued participation far from certain in a race he had been tipped to dominate.

It is more rotten luck for Thomas in the Giro after his 2017 bid for glory was effectively ended by a crash with a police motorbike on stage nine.

Just as the gap to Thomas began to yawn on the 19km climb to the finish, there was more bad news for British fans as Yates dropped out of the back of the peloton while attacks were lighting up at the front.

Two years ago Yates took pink on this volcano but this time his hopes took what could be a fatal blow as he toiled up the steep slopes, crossing the line more than four minutes down after Caicedo celebrated victory to drop to 25th place, three minutes and 46 seconds down.

Yates’ Mitchelton- Scott team had done much of the work on the front of the peloton, unaware he was on a bad day until it was too late.

Deceuninck- QuickStep’s James Knox is now the best placed Briton, one minute 40 down in 16th place, while Thomas’s team- mate Tao Geoghegan Hart is 24th, three minutes 12 seconds off pink.