A protracted day within the saddle resulted in glory for Juan Ayuso (UAE Team Emirates-XRG), as he took his sixth victory of the season following an explosive finale on the primary summit end of La Volta Catalunya. Ayuso battled head-to-head towards Primož Roglič (Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe) over the ultimate 200 metres, with the 2 crossing the road shoulder-to-shoulder, Ayuso taking the win by a fraction following a day through which his teammates managed the race.
The bunch closed in on a number one trio of riders with just some hundred metres remaining, amongst them Ayuso’s teammate Marc Soler, who animated the ultimate climb to La Molina, earlier than main out Ayuso. It was Roglič who launched first, however a searing flip of tempo from Ayuso drew him stage with the Slovenian as they crossed the road, with the Spaniard simply edging forward. Mikel Landa (Soudal-QuickStep) completed third. Ayuso takes the lead within the basic classification with Roglič in second, and Landa third.
Speaking after the stage, Ayuso agreed that staking his declare on the overall classification was a part of the purpose for the day. “Of course, that is the principle aim, however right here it is essential to win levels, as a result of they all the time additionally include bonus seconds, and on this race, a few years have been determined for lower than ten seconds. So it is necessary to get these wins.
He responded to a query over whether or not Pogačar’s 2024 GC win positioned additional strain on him, or was the truth is a blessing. “No, it is good, it is a blessing,” Ayuso stated. “We have primary in our group, which is Soler, due to Tadej final 12 months, and I hope subsequent 12 months, in addition they have primary.”
How it unfolded
Stage 3 of the Volta Catalunya was the longest of the week at 218.6 kilometres and featured 4,700 metres in altitude achieve. An early class 2 climb was adopted by three late ascents of various problem, and a summit end which was anticipated to attract out the GC riders who would contest the general victory.
Beginning in Viladecans, the peloton rolled out in vibrant, sunny circumstances, and after an early skirmish, a four-man breakaway was established 30 kilometres into the stage. They had been allowed round 5 minutes early in proceedings, however their benefit had plummeted to 2:30 by the point the race reached the summit of the class 3 Coll de la Battalola, which noticed an acceleration on the entrance of the bunch.
On the quick, sharp descent that adopted, the peloton stretched out into a protracted line, with UAE Team Emirates-XRG on the head, as they ready for the principle check of the day, the hors class Coll de la Crueta. A prolonged ascent at 21 kilometres, although not overly difficult at a mean gradient of 5%, UAE used the climb to start the method of whittling down the bunch, setting a gentle however brisk tempo that started to see riders shedding contact on the again.
Meanwhile, on the entrance of the race, Bruno Armirail (Decathlon-AG2R-La Mondiale) pushed away from the breakaway group to enter the solo lead. As Lotto took up the chase on behalf of Lennert van Eetvelt, Armirail slowly improved his benefit, constructing a cushion of three minutes as he neared the summit, which supplied a surprising vista within the snow because the race reached virtually 2,000 metres above sea stage.
UAE exerted their authority as soon as extra and started to reel him in on the lengthy descent that adopted, with the hole dropping to only over a minute as Armirail reached the foot of the ultimate climb as much as La Molina. Former race chief Matthew Brennan (Visma-Lease A Bike) misplaced contact as the ultimate climb started in earnest, and a slimmed-down bunch of round 50 riders caught and handed Armirail and pushed on, with Brennan’s teammate Sepp Kuss the primary to actually open up a spot on the climb, with Ben O’Connor (Decathlon-AG2R-La Mondiale), who gained in La Molina again in 2022, on his wheel. Adam Yates rapidly closed the pair down for UAE and Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe stepped in to take over the pace-setting after that.
The motion started with 6.5 kilometres remaining, George Bennett (Israel-Premier Tech) instigated an assault, taking Lorenzo Fortunato (XDS Astana) with him, and tempting UAE’s Marc Soler to bridge throughout and be part of them to type a trio. They opened a modest hole, however Soler attacked shortly afterwards, dropping Bennett and pursued as a substitute by Kuss, who joined Soler and Fortunato and led down the quick descent that separated the principle a part of the climb from the steep climb to the end line.
The trio had been subsumed simply over 500 metres from the end line nonetheless, and the ultimate uphill dash was led out by Soler earlier than Roglič stole a march on Ayuso 200 metres from the road. A second’s hesitation allowed Ayuso to energy by on the within nonetheless, and although Roglič gave the impression to be coming again to the Spaniard as the road approached, his restoration got here a fraction too late.
Results
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