And the madness continues on Stage 3 of the Vuelta a Espana with a third consecutive summit finish. More attackity action in the final few kilometres culminating in a sprint finish among the GC contenders in which Dan Martin (Israel Start-Up) successfully surged ahead of race leader Primoz Roglic (Jumbo-Visma) cutting the latter’s advantage to just 4 seconds. KOM Richard Carapaz (INEOS) rounded out the podium. There was a gentle shake up on GC, largely due to a couple of mechanicals.
Reduced to 18 stages, the 75th Vuelta a Espana kicked off today in the Basque Country and wasted no time in heading for the hills with a summit finish atop Arrate, which features each year in Itzulia (Tour of Basque Country). Defending champion and Jumbo Bee Primoz Roglic finished where he left off 13 months ago in the red leader’s jersey. His rocket-like counter-attack in the final 600 metres from a select leading group saw him solo across the line. Ineos’ Richard Carapaz finished runner-up and Dan Martin (Israel Start-Up) rounded out the podium.
The stage after a rest day often throws up a surprise (not least the Covid +s) and that’s exactly what happened on today’s hilly Stage 10 in the Giro d’Italia. In his maiden Giro, Peter Sagan (Bora) soloed to his long-awaited first victory of the season after going in the day’s breakaway, and holding off the chase from the GC contenders. Brendan McNulty (UAE) was runner-up while race leader Joao Almeida (DSQ) nicked a cheeky four bonus seconds on his rivals to round out the podium.