The 104th prestigious multi-day cycling race "Giro d'Italia" is taking place in Italy these days. The three leaders of the general classification include the Russian athlete Alexander Vlasov. Astana-Premier Tech rider takes third place and is just 21 seconds behind the owner of the leader's pink jersey Egan Bernal from Colombia. In his homeland, 25-year-old Vlasov is not known as widely as representatives of other sports, but in the world of road cycling he has long made a name for himself. In 2018, Vlasov won the general classification of the youth version of the Giro d'Italia, which was done by another Russian Pavel Sivakov a year before. Continuing to occupy high places in pin up mobil various races in the next season, the native of Vyborg in 2020 signed a contract with one of the strongest teams - Astana - and was able to debut on the grand tours. In Italy, he had to withdraw from the race already at the second stage due to stomach problems, but then he showed up at the Vuelta of Spain and took 11th place there, which is considered a good result for a debutant. In addition, Vlasov became the third in the youth classification.