Refresh
The opposite riders have been unfold throughout a number of minutes, in Pogacar’s wake and nonetheless struggling as he celebrated victory.
There may be nonetheless snow on the bottom close to the end however Pogacar did not really feel the chilly immediately.
Pogacar smiled and punched the air as he celebrated victory.
🏆 @TamauPogi, guanyador de la tercera etapa a @port_aine!🏔️Tadej Pogačar @TeamEmiratesUAE wins the third stage of Volta a Catalunya!#VoltaCatalunya103 pic.twitter.com/we27Df8H01March 20, 2024
All of the strongest riders are there however they’ve all once more misplaced a minute no less than.
The clicking ticks as Mikel Landa rides in. He finishes second at 48 seconds.
The chasers end simply a1:03 behind Pogacar.
Tadej Pogacar wins the stage, with one other solo assault. But once more no one was in a position to match him on the climb to the end.
Right here comes Pogi!
Behimd, Enric Mas (Movistar) is chasing after Landa.
We’re into the ultimate kilometre of the stage. That is one other dominant trip by Pogacar.
Pogacar can be flying and has opened his hole to 40 seconds. He’s positively from one other planet.
2km to go
Landa places his palms on the drops and stomps on the pedals.
Landa is on type and surges once more, distancing Harper and Kuss.
3km to go
Chris Harper of Jayco has completed an outstanding effort to cross the hole to Landa and Kuss.
He’s above the snow line as he climbs as much as Port Ainé.
Pogacar is sort of a Metronome, setting out a quick tempo with a easy, highly effective pedal stroke,
Landa and Kuss are swapping turns because the gradient eases for a second however they’re already 22 seconds again.
They’re, in principle, driving for the rostrum locations immediately and maybe for the general GC.
6km to go
Pogacar maybe eased to calibrate his effort however is storming up the climb now.
The chase group is 200 metres behind and is being shaken out. Quintana is dropped.
The American catches Landa with an influence surge and appears tempted to go after Pogacar.
However right here comes Kuss!
Increase! Pogacar is alone and flying to the end.
Lands is gapped. He tries to get on however he is struggling.
In fact Pogacar goes with him after which surges previous him on the 8% of the climb!
Landa assaults!
8km to go
Hirt continues to be hurting the peloton. It is a large trip.
Behind Geraint Thomas has been dropped and is chasing within the staff vehicles.
Hirt is dancing on the pedals together with his jersey open as, that is in marked distinction to Landa, who’s sat within the saddle and composed.
Yesterday we noticed him attacking within the drops , with s present of pure Landismo as he fought for second place to Pogacar.
The pace is excessive and Esteban Chaves (EF) is the most recent rider to be distanced.
13km to go
William Junior Lecerf has given his all and so Hirt takes over on the entrance.
Jan Hirt is sat on Vansevenant’s wheel, with Landa behind him and Pogacar’s on the Spaniard’s wheel.
William Junior Lecerf is giving his all on the entrance for Soudal. He is hurting lots of people. Even Pogacar’ is respiration together with his mouth open.
The change in tempo means Soler and Attila Valter of Visma have been dropped.
However out of the blue Soudal take over!
The UAE machine is driving the peloton alongside, with João Almeida, Pavel Sivakov and Marc Soler.
Víctor de la Parte (Euskaltel) has jumped away however he is not going clear.
Some riders have already been spat out of the again of the group. Others are on the assault.
The climb will want a 48 minute effort.
Ouch, the primary a part of the climb is steep!
19km to go
The climb to Port Ainé begins with a swing proper off the principle valley highway.
The pace is extremely excessive, as UAE set a painful tempo.
🇪🇸 #VoltaCatalunyaApproaching immediately’s remaining climb. 🔜🐝🚂 🏁 25 km. pic.twitter.com/kqhlDp6H2BMarch 20, 2024
Properly, that was a quick 10km.
The riders at the moment are in Kind and so will soob start to climb to the end.
UAE Group Emirates are main the entrance group, making it troublesome for the chase group to get again on.
No presents, as they are saying.
35km to go
The riders are diving down the descent, whereas some are additionally taking over bidon’s from staff vehicles when the pace permits it.
Harold Tejada (Astana Qazaqstan) was the primary to the highest of the Port de Cantó and so took most KOM factors.
The peloton is all the way down to 60 riders or so, with a bunch of chaser making an attempt to shut the hole.
The riders have been climbing the Port de Cantó at pace for 22km now. 3km to go.
45km to go
There’s nonetheless a cautious established order within the peloton. It is unusual however displays the thought that the climb to the end will likely be decisive.
The Port de Cantó has been light thus far however will quickly hit a piece at 7%. There might be assaults.
On Port de Canto, the second labeled climb of the #VoltaCatalunya103 stage, the breakaway group of @MVansevenant99 has been caught.Picture: @GettySport pic.twitter.com/ih7M5WYACzMarch 20, 2024
Alasdair Fotheringham is on the Volta a Catalunya for Cyclingnews and has pushed a lot of immediately’s stage.
He despatched us this data:
“It is chilly and there is a number of snow on the roadsides, however dry for now and the route is obvious. The tarmac fairly churned up in locations on remaining climb from winter snow.”
He additionally drive over the 25km lengthy Port de Cantó climb the riders are on now.
“Its a really lengthy climb, however with plenty of false flats and descents and the final 5 kms are very light. There is a very-fast descent to Kind on good, extensive roads.”
UAE lead the chase however apparently, it’s Visma who at the moment are on the entrance of the peloton.
And identical to that….
The peloton ups the pace on the climb and the break is caught.
65km to go
After the lengthy descent, the Port de Cantó climb begins and final for 25.5 km at a mean of 4.2%.
Carthy, Hayter and Vansevenant took the bonus seconds on the intermediate because the 10-rider attacked rolled via at pace.
It is time for the Montferrer i Castellbò intermediate dash.
After two hours of racing, together with. lengthy climb and lengthy descent, the typical pace was 42.3 km/h.
The peloton has eased a bit of, permitting the break to extends their result in 1:20.
The riders have rapidly coated over 90km due to the lengthy descent.
Fortuitously the climate is a lot better immediately in Catalunya, with the riders racing in sunny, spring like climate.
Tuesday’s stage ended at near 2000m, with riders struggling within the chilly.
Alasdair Fotheringham was on the end line for Cyclingnews to report on what it was like and on Tadej Pogacar’s assaults.
First a joke, then Tadej Pogacar blows the Volta a Catalunya aside
100km to go
Everyone seems to be diving down the quick highway descent however the gaps stays at 50 seconds.
UAE and the peloton are at lower than a minute and isn; letting them go clear, partially as a result of a number of are GC threats.
Lopez is twenty second general at 3:03.
These are the ten riders up entrance:
Mauri Vansevenant (Soudal-Fast Step), Ethan Hayter (Ineos Grenadiers), Juan Pedro Lopez (Lidl-Trek), Hugh Carthy (EF Training-EasyPost) ), Nicolas Prodhomme (Decathlon-AG2R), Harold Tejada (Astana Qazaqstan), Andreas Kron (Lotto Dstny), Ivan Ramiro Sosa (Movistar), Stephen Williams (Israel-Premier Tech) and Andreas Leknessund (Uno-X Mobility).
They descend from 1770m to only 685m in 60km of quick roads west, from the Pyrenees.
130km to go
With 50 km or so coated the riders now face an extended descent to Montferrer i Castellbò for the intermediate dash.
UAE Group Emirates ensured the peloton stayed inside one minute however on doubt wished to maintain as ma nt riders as attainable within the entrance group to steer the chase later within the stage.
Tejada was first to the summit to attain 10 KOM factors, forward of Lopez, Carthy and Vansevenant.
Vansevenant, Lopez, Carthy, Prodhomme and Tejada bought away on the summit however the different riders step by step bought again to them on the descent.
The break of 11 riders made it over the summit of the Port de Toses and are diving down the descent.
This was the quiet earlier than the racing began quick, with Pogacar within the chief’s jersey.
The riders are two kilometres from the summit of the Port de Toses and the gradient continues to be 9%.
If the attackers get excessive of the Port de Toses, they’ve an opportunity of opening their lead.
Joan Bou (Euskaltel) is one in all a number of riders making an attempt to go throughout however the peloton will certainly quickly ease and gradual the peloton.
Or maybe not.
These are the rider up the highway:
Mauri Vansevenant (Soudal), Ethan Hayter (Ineos), Juan Pedro Lopez (Lidl), Hugh Carthy (EF), Christopher Juul-Jensen (Jayco), Nicolas Prodhomme (Decathlon), Harold Tejada (Astana) and Andreas Kron (Lotto).
Because the gradient of the Port de Toses steepens and touches 10%, different riders are on the transfer.
Jack Haig and Andreas Leknessund have surged away and the peloton appears to be letting them go.
The riders are on the steeper a part of the Port de Toses, and so climbers are attacking.
Javier Romo (Movistar) was he first to maneuver however others joined him, together with Steven Kruijswijk (Visma).
We have extra assaults!
Gruppo compatto. The 2 attackers have been caught.
Florian Lipowitz (Bora-Hansgrohe) has attacked to go after Mollema.
🚩Etapa 3⃣ #VoltaCatalunya103💥El primer atac de sortida, @BaukeMollema!🚴♂️Bauke Mollema @LidlTrek is the primary attacker!💻LIVE: https://t.co/sFTnPgCoaS pic.twitter.com/mnInyJMmG5March 20, 2024
For now the peloton is letting Mollema hang around from however somebody will certainly be part of him quickly.
The riders have simply left the beginning in Sant Joan de les Abadesses and we now have the primary reply to our questions.
Bauke Mollema (Lidl-Trek) attacked the second the flag was dropped.
Race on!
It will be fascinating to see how Tadej Pogacar’s rivals react after he surged away to win alone and take the race lead.
Will the opposite groups settle for his domiance or attempt to assault him some how?
There are three climbs in the course of the stage: Port de Toses (4 km at 9.1%), Port de Canto (25.5 km at 4.2%) and Port Ainé (18.4 km at 6.7%). All that provides as much as slightly below 4,000 meters of elevation acquire and absolutely a possibility for a high quality breakaway.
Stage 3 of the Volta a Catalunya is one other day within the Pyrenees, with a 176.6 km rider west.
Hola and welcome to the Cyclingnews stay protection of stage 3 of the Volta a Catalunya.