photo credits @ Tirreno-Adriatico
Jasper Philipsen claimed stage 3 of the Tirreno-Adriatico today, after the Belgian rider won the bunch sprint, capitalizing on a prefect lead-out from his Alpecin-Deceuninck teammate Mathieu van der Poel, beating Phil Bauhaus (Bahrain-Victorious) and Biniam Girmay (Intermarché-Circus-Wanty) on the line in Foligno
“It is always nice to win, and definitely after a team effort like this, to win is very nice,” Philipsen said in a post-race interview. “Our teammate Gianni Vermeersch told us in a meeting this morning that it was possible to have a crosswind in the final 10km. Jumbo was strong, and I was far behind [the splits in the field], but there was [Filippo] Ganna, whose wheel I could take to bridge to the first group. It came back together, and it was an expected bunch sprint.
“The season’s start didn’t go as we hoped for the team. It’s still early, and we have to stay calm, as we did in the previous years, and the wins will come. A team effort, like today, with the team keeping me in a good position, and, in the end, with Mathieu, I didn’t have to make a long sprint because his lead-out was so strong. It was so nice.”
In the meantime, Jumbo-Visma pushed the pace during the closing ten kilometers, splitting the field through the crosswinds with Primož Roglič and teammate Wout van Aert making it in the select group, while other key contenders and sprinters were caught out in the larger second group on the road.
Meanwhile, overall leader Filippo Ganna (Ineos Grenadiers) used his time trial prowess to bridge across to the front group, ultimately retaining his lead in the overall classification, with 28 seconds advantage over Lennard Kämna (Bora-Hansgrohe) and 31 seconds on teammate Magnus Sheffield.
Race Highlights
With the first 170km of the stage resembling more of a leisurely afternoon ride, there was very little action to report as the peloton seemed content to take in the Tuscan scenery.
An early break of four riders was eventually reeled in at 70km to go in the most noteworthy action of the day ahead of the finish.
Davide Bais (Eolo–Kometa) extended his King of the Mountains classification lead as well as taking the intermediate sprint.
Such was the serene nature of the stage, the riders were actually ten minutes slower than the schedule at one point.
The pace picked up into the final 30km, but the peloton remained together until Wout van Aert made his move in the final 10, backed by his Jumbo-Visma teammates.
The lead group grew however, approaching the finish with different riders taking turns at the front amid the twists and turns in the road approaching Foligno, before Alpecin-Deceuninck hit the front and van der Poel piloted his teammate to the win.
You must be logged in to post a comment.
