Bicycle Racing News and Opinion,
Tuesday, August 20, 2024

Back to news and opinion index page for links to archived stories | Commentary | Our YouTube page
2024 Tour de France | 2024 Giro d'Italia

When my cats aren't happy, I'm not happy. Not because I care about their mood but because I know they're just sitting there thinking up ways to get even. - Percy Bysshe Shelley

---

Les Woodland's book Dirty Feet: How the Great Unwashed Created the Tour de France is available in print, Kindle eBook & audiobook versions. To get your copy, just click on the Amazon link on the right.

Current racing:

• August 17 - Sept 8: Vuelta a España
• August 20 - 23: Tour du Poitou-Charentes en Nouvelle Aquitaine
  

Upcoming racing:

• August 25: Bretagne Classic Ouest-France

Latest completed racing:

• August 12 - 18: Tour of Poland
• August 14 - 18: PostNord Denmark Rundt
• August 13 - 16: Tour du Limousin
• August 11: La Polynormande
• August 10: Clasica San Sebastian
• August 5 - 9: Vuelta a Burgos
• August 4 - 7: Arctic Race of Norway
• July 27 - August 4: Olympic cycling

---

Vuelta a España stage three reports

We post the race organizer's report with the results.

Here's the report from stage winner and GC leader Wout van aert's Team Visma | Lease a Bike:

Wout van Aert has won the third stage of the Tour of Spain. In the red leader's jersey, the 29-year-old Belgian sprinted convincingly to his tenth stage win ever in a grand tour. ‘This feeling is hard to describe.”

Wout van Aert wins stage three. Sirotti photo

“This win feels great”, Van Aert commented afterwards. “It took a while before I could cheer again, but my patience was rewarded today. The emotional release after the finish was great. I missed the taste of victory.” 

The peloton rode the last Vuelta stage on Portuguese soil. Red jersey wearer Van Aert again had set his sights on the stage win. In pursuit of four early escapees, Team Visma | Lease a Bike – with a strong Robert Gesink - took control in the peloton. Then the riders again prepared for a bunch sprint. Van Aert started early and sprinted convincingly to a liberating win. 

“The confidence was good. I felt I had good legs. That was also the case yesterday. I was beaten by Groves, so I knew I had to start a bit earlier today. A long sprint remains one of my strengths. I am happy I could finish it for the boys. The team rode a fantastic race.” 

Van Aert's last victory was at the end of February. That was when the Team Visma | Lease a Bike leader won Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne. A month later - in Dwars door Vlaanderen - a crash marked an early end to his spring season. After a long rehabilitation period, he is back. 

“This is where I belong”, Van Aert concluded. “I race to win. I came to this Vuelta with enormous motivation. I was keen to win a stage and today is the day. I had doubts in the months following my crash, but during the Tour de France I felt that I could reach my best level sooner or later. This result makes me very happy.”

Here's the Vuelta report from 5th place Pavel Bittner's Team dsm-firmenich PostNL:

After taking a sixth place in Sunday’s sprint stage with Pavel Bittner, Team dsm-firmenich PostNL were aiming to go even better on stage three and look for the finish once again with Bittner. Laying ahead of them was a 191 kilometre route from Lousã to Castelo Branco and the last full stage on Portuguese soil.

Following a similar pattern to yesterday, a four rider break managed to escape with relative ease from the roll-out and quickly built up a gap of around five minutes. Staying within the bunch, the team looked to keep their proverbial powder dry, making sure to get through the day in a good way. Heading into the final 40 kilometres the pace in the peloton ramped up and the break was soon caught with more than 20 kilometres to go. There, the team rode cohesively as a unit and came forward en masse, keeping Bittner in position but alongside that ensuring that Max Poole was also safe as well.

As the kilometres ticked by the battle for position grew more intense but the team held the right side of the road brilliantly, leaving Martijn Tusveld with Bittner in around tenth wheel at around one kilometre to go. Tusveld then dropped Bittner off who then followed those in front of him but on the twisting and turning deep final it was hard to move up any further. Bittner launched a strong kick, sprinting as hard as he could and came past several riders in the closing metres to take a strong fifth place.

Early in the stage, the peloton gets going.

Speaking after the stage Bittner expressed: “It’s one place progression so that’s always nice. I think we did a really, really amazing job. I was looking forward to the final so much when I saw the guys lining up on the ride side all together, we were really organised, that was something nice to watch. It was then pretty chaotic in the final. I had to dig really deep to find something for the sprint. It was quite twisty so the guys ahead of me had an advantage so it was too much to sprint for the win but it’s still really nice to sprint for a top five in a Grand Tour stage. The speed is there and I think if I make those one second decisions a bit better, then I think we can get an even better result as a team in the next sprint chances.”

Team dsm-firmenich PostNL coach Phil West added: “Our goal again on stage three was to sprint with Pavel today and keep Max out of trouble. It was another super hot day in Portugal. I’m happy to say that we came through it in a good way. The boys are working well as a team, and cooling and eating really good, and the support we have from the staff on the ground is really good in that respect. We were able to bring Pavel into the finish in a really nice way, and we saw some good teamwork in the final of the race. It was another nice sprint from Pavel to get fifth on the day, which is a good result. We’re also happy Max could come through the day in a nice way after his crash yesterday, but we will see how that goes tomorrow in the first climbing stage.”

Here's the Vuelta stage 3 report from Team Groupama-FDJ:

For the third and final stage on Portuguese soil, the Vuelta a España, like the day before, ended with a bunch sprint on Monday in Castelo Branco. At the end of a suspenseless day, Wout Van Aert claimed victory while Stefan Küng got involved in the final to grab fourteenth place on the line. A completely different race will begin on Tuesday with a first summit finish and some crazy slopes.

Stefan Küng in polka-dots after stage two. Sirotti photo

Like the day before, the third stage’s profile of the Vuelta featured more than 2,500 meters of elevation gain on Monday. But like the day before, it looked very difficult to avoid a bunch finish considering the lack of proper difficulties. “We just had to be vigilant at the start in case a large breakaway would go, but we quickly understood that it was going to be a day for the sprinters,” confirmed Thierry Bricaud. As early as kilometre 0, four riders took off and the pack let them go away. Ibon Ruiz, Unai Iribar (Equipo Kern Pharma), Luis Angel Maté and Xabier Isasa (Euskaltel-Euskadi) formed the day’s break, which was able to compete for the two KOM on the program for this stage. Luis Angel Maté took advantage of this to collect a few more points and took the polka dots jersey away from Stefan Küng, the official leader of the classification since the day before.

However, the attempt to upset the peloton failed, as expected, and the last man from the break surrendered with twenty kilometres to go. “The goal was to be careful in the final to have a fairly quiet day, even if it was very hot,” added Thierry. Groupama-FDJ nevertheless showed themselves at the front of the peloton in the last five kilometres, in particular to bring up Stefan Küng, who tried to slip into the final sprint. Behind the pure finishers, the Swiss rider still got a decent top-15 (14th) while Wout Van Aert won the stage. Rémy Rochas, David Gaudu, Quentin Pacher and Lorenzo Germani finished in the same time as their teammate. “The guys had a pretty good day,” concluded Thierry. “A hard one awaits everyone tomorrow. This will be a first battle, which will provide some early answers for the rest of the Vuelta.” In a stage with more than 3,500 metres of elevation gain, the peloton will finish with the Pico Villuercas, which includes three kilometres averaging more than 13%.

And here's Team Soudal Quick-Step's Vuelta report:

The last day the peloton spent in Portugal was a quiet one, just like Sunday’s stage, only difference being that instead of two men, the breakaway numbered four riders, who this time forged out a five-minute advantage. It was a gap that the chasers easily kept under control, reeling the quarter in with more than 20 kilometers to go until the finish in Castelo Branco.

A late attack tried to derail the fast men’s trains, only for a regrouping to take place 800 meters from the line. The victory went to Wout Van Aert (Visma-Lease a Bike), with most of the T-Rex Quick-Step riders – including Mikel Landa – coming home together with the rest of the bunch, after almost five hours in the saddle.

The scenery will change on Tuesday, when the first real climbs of La Vuelta will appear in the riders’ way. A total of four ascents, including Alto del Piornal and Pico Villuercas, the latter being where the fight for victory and the red jersey is set to unfold, should widen the gaps between the general classification contenders, which are rather small after the opening individual time trial.

Vuelta stage 4 profile

Back to news and opinion index page for links to archived stories | Commentary