Orica-GreenEDGE’s Michael Matthews claimed stage 3 of this year’s Vuelta a Espana today, after winning a tight sprint finish in Arcos de la Frontera.
Today’s victory not only netted the Australian rider the stage win, but also moved him up into the overall race lead.
Indeed, Matthews showed an impressive turn of speed – to finish in five hours, 12 minutes and 14 seconds ahead of Daniel Martin (Garmin Sharp) and Joaquim Rodriguez (Katusha).
Race Details
The first breakaway came after 13 kilometers of racing, as Jacques Janse Van Rensburg (MTN – Qhubeka) moved to the front of a five-man group – before Danilo Wyss of BMC assumed top spot.
Shortly after the start of the first climb, the Alto del Picacho, the gap had dropped to just over four minutes, with Jerome Cousin emerging as the new leader.
A second mountains victory of the race helped him top the King of the Mountains competition as the gap to the peloton continued to reduce.
As the teams began to make plans for the final run-in, Orica jostled for position to allow Matthews a shot at the breakaway.
Luis Guillermo Mas Bonet (Caja Rural Seguros RGA) forged ahead going into the final climb, but the peloton were able to continue reeling the Spaniard in on the flatter sections with Orica, Tinkoff-Saxo and Team Sky all lurking.
With 25 kilometers remaining, Bonet was caught before Movistar pair Jonathan Castroviejo and Adriano Malori went down in a crash.
Adam Hansen (Lotto Belisol) and Tony Martin (OmegaPharma-QuickStep) both enjoyed brief leads, but it was down to Daniel Martin and Matthews in the final reckoning, where Matthews prove to be the stronger of the two men.
Stage 3 Results AUS 1 MATTHEWS, Michael (ORICA GreenEDGE) 5:12:14 IRL 2 MARTIN, Daniel (GARMIN SHARP) ESP 3 RODRIGUEZ OLIVER, Joaquin (KATUSHA) NED 4 KELDERMAN, Wilco (BELKIN) GER 5 MARTENS, Paul (BELKIN) AUS 6 EVANS, Cadel (BMC RACING) FRA 7 MONDORY, Lloyd (AG2R LA MONDIALE) FRA 8 BOUHANNI, Nacer (FDJ.fr) ESP 9 MORENO FERNANDEZ, Daniel (KATUSHA) GBR 10 FROOME, Christopher (SKY) COL 11 URAN URAN, Rigoberto (OMEGA PHARMA – QUICK-STEP) ESP 12 SANCHEZ GONZALEZ, Samuel (BMC RACING) COL 13 QUINTANA ROJAS, Nairo Alexander (MOVISTAR) NED 14 GESINK, Robert (BELKIN) ESP 15 ARROYO DURAN, David (CAJA RURAL – SEGUROS RGA) ESP 16 CONTADOR VELASCO, Alberto (TINKOFF-SAXO) COL 17 CHAVES RUBIO, Jhoan Esteban (ORICA GreenEDGE) + 7 ESP 18 PARDILLA BELLON, Sergio (MTN – QHUBEKA) COL 19 ARREDONDO MORENO, Julian David (TREK FACTORY RACING) GBR 20 KENNAUGH, Peter (SKY) BEL 21 GILBERT, Philippe (BMC RACING) ITA 22 BRAMBILLA, Gianluca (OMEGA PHARMA – QUICK-STEP) ITA 23 CARUSO, Damiano (CANNONDALE) USA 24 TALANSKY, Andrew (GARMIN SHARP) ESP 25 NAVARRO GARCIA, Daniel (COFIDIS, SOLUTIONS CREDITS) ITA 26 CARUSO, Giampaolo (KATUSHA) CAN 27 HESJEDAL, Ryder (GARMIN SHARP) POR 28 CARDOSO, Andre Fernando S. Martins (GARMIN SHARP) ITA 29 ARU, Fabio (ASTANA) EST 30 KANGERT, Tanel (ASTANA) FRA 31 LE MEVEL, Christophe (COFIDIS, SOLUTIONS CREDITS) POL 32 NIEMIEC, Przemyslaw (LAMPRE – MERIDA) NZL 33 BENNETT, George (CANNONDALE) ESP 34 SANCHEZ GIL, Luis Leon (CAJA RURAL – SEGUROS RGA) FRA 35 SICARD, Romain (EUROPCAR) FRA 36 BOUET, Maxime (AG2R LA MONDIALE) ESP 37 NIEVE ITURALDE, Mikel (SKY) ESP 38 LANDA MEANA, Mikel (ASTANA) ESP 39 VALVERDE BELMONTE, Alejandro (MOVISTAR) BEL 40 VAN DEN BROECK, Jurgen (LOTTO BELISOL) NED 41 TEN DAM, Laurens (BELKIN) ESP 42 ZUBELDIA AGIRRE, Haimar (TREK FACTORY RACING) FRA 43 MARTINEZ, Yannick (EUROPCAR) FRA 44 BARGUIL, Warren (GIANT-SHIMANO) GER 45 NERZ, Dominik (BMC RACING) SUI 46 ZAUGG, Oliver (TINKOFF-SAXO) + 18 ITA 47 POZZATO, Filippo (LAMPRE – MERIDA) + 19 ITA 48 SBARAGLI, Kristian (MTN – QHUBEKA) ESP 49 FERNANDEZ, Koldo (GARMIN SHARP) + 22 COL 50 ANACONA GOMEZ, Winner (LAMPRE – MERIDA) + 30
General Classification after Stage 3 AUS 1 MATTHEWS, Michael (ORICA GreenEDGE) 9:27:53 COL 2 QUINTANA ROJAS, Nairo Alexander (MOVISTAR) + 4 ESP 3 VALVERDE BELMONTE, Alejandro (MOVISTAR) + 11 COL 4 URAN URAN, Rigoberto (OMEGA PHARMA – QUICK-STEP) + 15 ITA 5 CARUSO, Damiano (CANNONDALE) + 17 COL 6 CHAVES RUBIO, Jhoan Esteban (ORICA GreenEDGE) NZL 7 BENNETT, George (CANNONDALE) + 20 COL 8 ARREDONDO MORENO, Julian David (TREK FACTORY RACING) ESP 9 ZUBELDIA AGIRRE, Haimar (TREK FACTORY RACING) ITA 10 BRAMBILLA, Gianluca (OMEGA PHARMA – QUICK-STEP) + 22 NED 11 KELDERMAN, Wilco (BELKIN) + 23 ESP 12 CONTADOR VELASCO, Alberto (TINKOFF-SAXO) NED 13 GESINK, Robert (BELKIN) ESP 14 SANCHEZ GONZALEZ, Samuel (BMC RACING) + 25 AUS 15 EVANS, Cadel (BMC RACING) FRA 16 BARGUIL, Warren (GIANT-SHIMANO) + 30 GBR 17 FROOME, Christopher (SKY) + 31 GER 18 NERZ, Dominik (BMC RACING) + 32 POL 19 NIEMIEC, Przemyslaw (LAMPRE – MERIDA) + 36 FRA 20 MONDORY, Lloyd (AG2R LA MONDIALE) + 37
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