Reduced bunch sprint on Tirreno Adriatico stage 3
Riders assembled at the start line today of a rolling 219km stage taking the race east from Monticiano to Gualdo Tadino. There was only one categorised climb, but the entire day would see near constant ascending and descending, with a slight kick uphill at the finish. With so many kilometres to contend with and 3,000m of climbing, it was unlikely that an early break would take the stage, but five riders went on the attack and set about building a lead that hit almost nine minutes.
After more than 100km of racing, the peloton started winding this lead back in, both Peter Sagan and Daniel Oss making their presence known at the front of the bunch to reduce the escape’s advantage, and this fell to just four minutes as the race crested the Poggio Della Croce, the climb that marked the day’s halfway point. The bunch was timing the catch and with 15km left the gap was less than a minute. A crash saw a split in the peloton. A select group went off the front.
“It was a really hectic, stressful, and long day and the crash in the finale caused a bit of chaos.he peloton was tense throughout the stage because of the variable conditions. It was cold, there were parts with wind, others without, open sections where echelons could be produced, then some drizzle, so there was nervousness and we had to stay alert all day.
Results
01 M.Van der Poel 5h24’18”
02 W.Van Aert + 0:00
03 D.Ballerini + 0:00
