Not since James Brown's cape routine has performative fatigue felt like such an integral part of the spectacle.

After winning in Visegrad on the first day of the Giro d'Italia, Mathieu van der Poel fell into a pile of dead leaves across the finish line. After defending his Maria Rosa in the time trial in Budapest on Saturday, he sat on the side of the road, saliva dripping from his chin, his eyes slumped.

Another day, another show.

Van der Poel seems to be able to step into places of pain where no other athlete would dare set foot, and perform the same way again the next day. In Visegrad, he confessed that he was too tired to raise his hands in celebration. Nevertheless, he recovered quickly enough to empty himself again on this 9.2 km time trial across the Danube.

The sharp corners on the course seemed to suit van der Pol's talent for bike handling. He was three seconds ahead of Simon Yates (Bike Exchange Jayco) and ahead of countryman Tom Dumoulin (Jumbo Visma).

"Yeah, I certainly would have signed up before," van der Pol said.

"The time trial was very good, and of course the difference between the winner and second place was very close. But I think I'm pretty happy because I got an extra day in the pink jersey."

This Giro d'Italia is the second Grand Tour of van der Pol's career, and it increasingly feels like a mirror of his first Grand Tour. Last year, the Alpecin Phoenix rider took the maillot jaune after winning the Tour de France in Mule de Bretagne, and three days later he defied expectations and held the lead in the time trial in Laval.

He built an 11-second lead over Yates on stage 3 and will likely maintain his pink lead in the Giro, which restarts Tuesday in Sicily.

"I knew it was possible to keep the jersey and I believed in it more than, say, the Tour de France time trial.

"The best time triallists are not here. I knew that keeping the jersey would be very good. That was my main goal, but to come so close to winning a stage was more than I expected. It's an event I didn't spend much time on, so I think I can be satisfied."

Vincenzo Nibali (Astana-Cazakstan) emphasized that this was a particularly technical course.

Van der Pol, however, softly dismissed the idea that the effort here resembled a cyclocross race. Van der Paul's definition of "technical" may be stricter than the rest of the peloton.

"In my opinion, there were only a few corners where you had to use technique," he said. "The rest were quite fast. The rest was pretty fast, and the long sections were okay today. I think it was a good course."

Van der Pol recorded the third fastest split at the time check on the west bank of the Danube at km 7.9. He proved faster than Dumoulin on the short climb that followed and came close to going even with the flying Yates.

"I think I could have done a little better, but it's easy to say afterwards. I think I drove a little too easy, especially in the beginning, because I didn't want to take too many risks in the corners.

"I couldn't really hear what they were saying because the radio wasn't loud enough because of the crowds."

In last year's Tour, Van der Pol's yellow jersey reign lasted until the race entered the Alps at the end of the first week. In this year's Giro, Tuesday's Etna summit finish will likely mark the end of his tenure on the Maria Rosa.

Meanwhile, he could have another stage win in Balatonfured on Sunday afternoon, but he passed on that opportunity, suggesting instead that he would serve as a rather deluxe gregario for Jakub Mareczko.

"Tomorrow will be a leadout for Maletzko.

But the pink jersey should still be in his suitcase when the race leaves for Sicily on Monday morning.

"Normally you should be able to keep the jersey until Etna," he said. But after that you lose it."

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