Miguel Angel Lopez holds the favorite title for today. Lots of KOM points on offer throughout the stage and a very hilly parcours. Positioning could be crucial today as the GC looks to get decided as well.
Team Puma - SAP does not want a major breakaway to escape and Ganna is the perfect man to lead the peloton in that endeavor. He limits the break to two riders. Miller and Cosnefroy are the only two to be able to establish a gap. Anytime someone else tries to escape, Ganna crushes it on the front to ensure no more get away.
The first sprint comes at 173km to go and Cosnefroy takes that over Miller. These are important seconds for Cosnefroy who sits just 20 seconds back on GC and in 8th position. Leaving the breakaway to two riders probably means they can’t make the finish and once they’re caught, they’ll be spit out the back. Still, Cosnefroy is trying to maintain hope. Behind in the peloton, Ganna is rewarded with a few points for his work on the front of the peloton.
The first categorized climb comes 50km into the race after some very challenging steep micro-climbs. This one is a CAT 2, so the fight for points in the peloton will also matter for the KOM standings. By the time they reach the foot of the climb, Miller has already been detached from Cosnefroy. There just has been no time to recover with the constant up and downs. He’s managing to stay in front of the peloton for now, but Cosnefroy will be on his own for the rest of the breakaway.
Cosnefroy stays away until the KOM point, but Miller is taken in by the group. 10 points for the Frenchman. No attacks behind as the point go to Ganna, Stork, Egger, and Miller. Miller just manages to hold near the front while the rest are the Puma - SAP train pushing the pace.
143km to go and the gap is 2:02. A tough pace could send riders out the back early on today. Clearly they could give Cosnefroy more leash if they wanted to. They return to this same climb in 40km without much forced action between. Cosnefroy just struggles out there alone while Ganna tempos the peloton.
Spoke too soon! Skjelmose Jensen, Van Niekerk, and Tolhoek decide that it’s too boring and decide to attack to reestablish a breakaway. Ganna seems content to allow them up the road at this point. The three connect with Cosenfroy with 125km to go. Together they still only hold 1:45 over the peloton.
Immediately upon joining together, Cosnefroy is spit out the back. He won’t be part of the move any longer and sits midway between the break and the peloton. He awaits the catch on Ganna’s whimsy. The 3 riders together have now stretched the gap to 2:30.
The Cat 2 climb has returned and the 3 in the breakaway want the points. Van Niekerk gets 1st, Tolhoek 2nd and Skjelmose Jensen 3rd. Cosnefroy is finally caught on the climb and the remaining points awkwardly go to Ganna and Mano. They’ve allowed the gap up to 3:50 now.
There’s a cat 3 as the race heads a different direction than the first route through the climb meaning there’s more points on offer for the break. Van Niekerk comes through for 1st again ahead of Tolhoek and Skjelmose Jensen. Van Niekerk now just 2 points back of Strakhov in the KOM standings. 91km to go and 3:40 is the gap.
The second sprint point is rather uneventful as all three are approximately 50 seconds back on GC. They all know that GC success comes from a successful break and nothing else. Van Niekerk decides he wants them at the last minute while Skjelmose Jensen tries to follow with Tolhoek. 82km to go and the gap is back at 3:30. Slowly and surely descending.
The teams controlling the peloton are EA Vesuvio, King Power, Aker-MOT, Polar, and Puma - SAP. Many favorites are near the front, afraid that the action is going to kick off but nothing so far with 70km to go. No one has been dropped from the peloton. 3:00 to the peloton.
Another Cat 3 with 54km to go means that Van Niekerk will tie the KOM lead at minimum here. He does more than that! Skjelmose Jensen does take the top points but Van Niekerk narrowly grabs 2nd. Tolhoek 3rd. The gap is 2:20. Overall the group looks out of energy for the remaining 50km.
40km to go and the gap is down to 49 seconds. They’re being eaten up by any injection of pace from the pace and all together at 38km to go.
The final Cat 2 of the entire race is available for points but no one wants to take the pace. Eventually it is left to Becis, Gabburo, Barthe, Herregodts, and Le Roux. While the pack is all together, many of the domestiques who had to pace early are dropped and there are only 114 left in the peloton. The best placed of those is Ganna who entered the day 15th but has been riding the front for ages.
Cosnefroy is dropped through the 20km to go banner.
Mas attacks for the 2nd stage in a row with 16km to go. He doesn’t get much of a gap, but the injection of pace is stringing out the field on the minor climbs before the finish. Ferreyra and Oliveira are those inthe top 10 dropped this time. Mas is thus returned to the peloton leaving 66 in the front group.
Pogacar attacks under the 10km to go barrier and he is immediately matched by Wirtgen. Preidler is next in line before many of the other favorites. No gaps created still but the pace is very high heading into the base on the final climb.
5km to go and the group is still together with most of the favorites. Evenepoel sits at the back of the pack but is still there! Wirtgen is the best positioned but is he too close to the front.
Sosa hits the front and ups the pace. No casualties of the uphill yet but the steepest slopes are in the final 1.5km. Gidich is now basically on Sosa’s wheel ready to utilize this attack.
2.3km to go and the peloton is down to 44. There will definitely be meaningful gaps today. Phinney is on the front alongside Latour who looks prepped for an attack. Herklotz looks well protected behind Lopez.
1km to go and the gaps are getting wider! Only 16 in the front with Lopez now the attacker. Phinney holds the inside line as Herklotz sits right on his wheel. Gidich, Valter, Wirtgen (although he looks to be falling back), Pogacar, Latour, Madouas, Geoghegan Hart, Conci, Sagan, Polanc, Preidler, Kinoshita, and Senni are the only ones left in the front group. Definitely a few surprises not to see still here.
700m to go and Herklotz puts in a burst on the 13% section of the climb. He slides through Phinney and Lopez like butter and now holds the lead by 8 seconds. No major changes in the rest of the group.
Herklotz powers to the 300m to go marker where the slopes have gotten to 15.6%. He holds a gap that Phinney shouldn’t be able to close. Lopez 3rd with 4 riders now gapping the rest. They are Valter Geoghegan Hart, Gidich, and Latour before the rest come up the mountain.
Herklotz wins Stage 3 and the GC (and the Green)! He bests Phinney and the rest today, but the MOL Cycling star also secures 2nd on GC and 2nd in the Points. An absolutely fantastic battle between two beasts.
Lopez earns a decisive 3rd place as well. His GC placement will rely on the time gaps given out, but it should be a 3rd on GC for him as well.
Latour leads the rest over in 4th. He will need some generous time gaps to move up in GC. Geoghegan Hart is given 5th over Gidich barely. Both also stand to move up some places as does 7th place Valter
Conci is 8th across the line after starting the day in 10th. It’ll likely be 8th place for him on GC with the gaps likely being too large to hold off anyone who finished the day in front. With him are Pogacar and Sagan rounding out the top 10.
Wirtgen and Senni are the 11th and 12th to cross the line before the big groups start coming in. The top 15 is rounded out by Madouas, Preidler and Kinoshita.
Gaps between riders after place 20th will matter though as they are a lot of 2s and 3s gaps that aren’t clear whether they’ll be divided. We eagerly await the podiums and final results.
Herklotz wins the stage! Herklotz wins the GC! Herklotz wins the Points! Is there anything Herklotz can’t win?!
Van Niekerk had a challenging day in the breakaway but a great effort to take the KOM.
Valter did enough on this final day to wrestle the jersey out of Evenepoel’s hands with Pogacar putting up a fight as well.
We knew it would be a tight fight between EA Vesuvio and Cedevita but the group from Liechtenstein take the team win!
