photo credits @ Volta
One hundred sixty-three riders took the start of the 3rd stage of the Volta a Catalunya today, which was already anticipated to be the first big test among the candidates for the final victory. The longest stage of the Catalan race since 2006 has accumulated 5,000 meters of positive vertical drop with four mountain passes: the Coll d’Estenalles (2nd category), the Coll de la Batallola (3rd category), the Coll de la Creueta (special category) and the final finish of this edition.
After a very fast start with a strong battle for the breakaway for about thirty kilometers, before the climb to the first pass of the day a breakaway was consolidated with Bruno Armirail (Decathlon-Ag2r La Mondiale), Lorenzo Germani (Groupama-FDJ), Alex Molenaar (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA) and Mats Wenzel (Team Kern Pharma), who the peloton allowed extending his advantage quickly.
UAE Team Emirates, the team of Juan Ayuso, who started the stage already in 5th place overall thanks to the bonuses, took the responsibility of controlling the breakaway. In it, the Frenchman Armirail stood out, who left behind his fellow escapees on the climb to the endless Coll de la Creueta and led the race alone until the start of the final climb in La Molina, just 9 kilometers from the finish line.
The final climb at the Ferrocarrils de la Generalitat de Catalunya station, where many of the overall winners of the Volta a Catalunya in the last decade have won, began with attacks from the favorites, with Sepp Kuss (Team Visma-Lease a Bike), and especially Marc Soler, who held on until almost the last kilometer. However, nothing prevented the victory from being decided in an explosive finish between the big favorites in the Volta, in which Ayuso and Primoz Roglic (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) had to throw the bike to the finish line to play for a victory that finally went to the young Valencian rider, unstoppable this season as the recent winner of Tirreno-Adriatico.
Thanks to the victory, Ayuso is the new leader of the Volta a Catalunya, 6 seconds ahead of Roglic himself and 11 seconds ahead of Mikel Landa (Soudal-Quick Step) in the run-up to a new high-altitude finish.
