As it happened: Danish sprinter continues amazing form on stage 3 of Tirreno-Adriatico 2026
Decathlon-CMA CGM's new star man continues his incredible start to 2026 with another win
Tirreno-Adriatico 2026 - Preview
Tirreno-Adriatico 2026 - Route
Race Situation
Tobias Lund Andresen stormed to victory in Magliano dé Marsi ahead of Arnaud De Lie and Jasper Philipsen
Buongiorno and welcome to Cyclingnews' live report for stage 3 of Tirreno-Adriatico 2026.
Today should be the first opportunity for the fast men. However, it won't be without it's challenges. The weather remains possibly damp and the route isn't completely flat, either. Not to mention that it is the longest stage of this year's race at 221km.
If it wasn't for the fact that there are so many world class sprinters in attendance, I'd say the break would have a good chance. But, with the names riding such as Jonathan Milan (Lidl-Trek), Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Premier Tech), Paul Magnier (Soudal-QuickStep) and Tobias Lound Andresen (Decathlon-CMA CGM), it is easy to see why the sprinters are the favoured riders for the day.
Sign on is well underway in the beautiful start town of Cortona which dates back to before the 4th century BCE!
Jerseys:
It was a very good day in the GC battle for Del Toro and Pellizzari and they took potentially crucial time on their rivals in the battle for the GC...
It was a brilliant ride by Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Premier Tech) yesterday to take an amazing win in San Gimignano...
Ethan Hayter (Soudal-QuickStep) faced the consequences of his actions in the opening stage ITT...
Unfortunately for the riders, the rain has started to fall at the start.
There are only two points of interest for the breakaway today. The 2.3km climb at Todi and the intermediate sprint at Casette.
After 10 minutes of racing the race is still all together.
Sevilla now has a minute on the peloton.
There is about 70km to the only KOM point of the day. Sevilla has a long way to go.
The gap continues to extend for the Polti-Visit Malta rider as he has a gap of one minute and 20 seconds on the peloton.
This is going to be a very long day out for Sevilla as his KOM rivals will likely just wait for the KOM to come to them and take the minor points rather than, in their eyes, waste energy for the more challenging Muri stages to come.
Almost four minutes for Sevilla now.
It is a very lonely day out for the man from San Martín de la Vega in Spain...
After an hour of racing, the time gap begins the fall for Sevilla as the peloton peg him back to five minutes and 15 seconds.
The weather is absolutely miserable for the riders. Max Walscheid (Lidl-Trek) is clearly not a fan, however, his teammate Jonathan Milan seems to be in good spirits despite the rain.
50km of racing done for Sevilla who has a gap of five and a half minutes.
30km to the KOM sprint.
Sevilla started the day on five points in the KOM classification, but, because Van der Poel won the stage yesterday, the Dutch rider also has five points and wears the jersey because of that.
25km to go until the KOM at Todi.
The main story features on our home page this morning is our interview with Adam Yates. The UAE Team Emirates-XRG rider talks about life at the mega team, working for Tadej Pogačar, competing with the best and more. Why not take a look in the link below...
Lidl-Trek, Alpecin-Premier Tech, Visma-Lease a Bike, Soudal-QuickStep and UAE Team Emirates-XRG are sharing the work at the front of the peloton as they look to set up their sprinters and keep their GC leaders safe.
The gap dips under five minutes for the first time in a while with under 100 miles of racing left.
Sevilla has started the Todi climb.
The usual suspects of Amanuel Ghebreigzabhier (Lidl-Trek) and Silvan Dillier (Alpecin-Premier Tech) are joined by Ayco Bastiaens (Soudal-QuickStep) at the front of the peloton.
The Spaniard has just over three minutes on the rest of the field now as his job is done for the day. Will he sit up and wait for the peloton?
Sevilla has been with the Polti-Visit Malta team for his entire career starting 2013 when the team was still just a club called Specialized-Fundación Alberto Contador and included the likes of Enric Mas and Fernando Barcelo. The 30-year-old is still waiting for his first victory in the pro ranks.
It does appear that Sevilla has sat up and is indeed waiting for the peloton now that he has taken maximum points on the KOM sprint and now leads out right ahead of Bou.
KOM Standings top 5
Diego Pablo Sevilla has been caught by the peloton. The race is all together with over 120km to go.
Jonathan Milan spoke to TV before the start... "We are really committed. I really like the course. I will not have many other chances so we will try out best to control the race and hopefully we will have support from other teams as the stage is really long.
Sprinters in attendance
One thing that we will see today is the first battle between on-form Magnier and Milan in a bunch sprint.
Just about half way through the stage.
The weather isn't great with the riders at the moment, but the roads are dry at the finish at the moment.
The riders are taking all the corners very gingerly as the Italian asphalt is like ice in the wet.
Del Toro having to shake his hands to try and get some blood into them and warm them up. He's had gloves on for so long that they no longer work to warm his hands. Wet weather gear constantly needs changing.
No riders left the race after yesterday's stage despite the crashes with Lennert Van Eetvelt (Lotto-Intermarche) remaining the only rider to leave the race after DNSing on stage 2 due to injuries suffered at Strade Bianche.
Wout Van Aert (Visma-Lease a Bike) deliberately took it easy in the opening time trial to go all in for stage 2 yesterday, but poor positioning and bad decisions led to yet more frustration for the Belgian...
If you were following the live page yesterday you will have seen the interview from Thymen Arensman (Ineos Grenadiers) where he voiced his concerns about the gravel. And, despite saying he loves the surface, it seemingly doesn't share the feeling as his worse fears came true with a crash seeing him lose a minute and a half on his rivals.
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Van Aert said before the start that today's stage was "perfect preparation for Milan-Sanremo" but he does not sound keen on sprinting today.
Racing resumes. It isn't clear as to why the race was neutralised other than maybe just making sure the riders got down the descent safely.
Racing was neutralised as there was a closed railway crossing. So, instead of stooping the riders, the race decided to slow them down to allow the train to pass and the crossing to reopen.
The average speed has crept up a little bit to 38kph after three and a half hours of racing.
About 20km to the intermediate sprint in Casette with potentially key three, two and one bonus second(s) up for grabs.
Meanwhile, over in France and the race to the sun is in anything but as the rain also falls there too. It is a disastrous day for French hopes in the crosswinds. Follow the live page in the link below...
The rain is very off and on now as showers continued to roll in.
5km to the intermediate sprint.
The GC teams arrive on the front with Visma-Lease a Bike and UAE Team Emirates-XRG working for Matteo Jorgenson and Isaac Del Toro.
Danny van Poppel (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) took the intermediate sprint. I think it was Alan Hetherly or Andrea Vendrame of Jayco-AlUla in second and Del Toro taking one second bonus in third.
The rain was absolutely hammering it down for that intermediate sprint and, as they roll out of town, the rain stops.
Puncture for Filippo Fiorelli (Visma-Lease a Bike)
Keeping up on eating and drinking in these conditions is key. It is so easy to forget about fuelling yourself. Lidl-Trek seem well on top of things today.
Bike change for Oliver Naesen (Decathlon-CMA CGM).
Lidl-Trek, Soudal-Quickstep and Alpecin-Premier Tech have done all the work today for their sprinters Milan, Magnier and Philipsen.
Liam Slock (Lotto-Intermarche) and Ethan Hayter (Soudal-QuickStep) made it to Abrahamsen's wheel. Theres a large group that has broken away from the peloton as well.
Attackers caught.
Andrea Bagioli (Lidl-Trek) now setting the tempo in the peloton with Slock in second wheel working for Lotto-Intermarche.
The riders may have thought they had seen the back of the rain but it has returned as multiple teams come to the front to try and hold control with various teams in colour order to prepare the bunch gallop.
NSN, Ineos Grenadiers, Soudal-QuickStep, EF Education-EasyPost, UAE Team Emirates-XRG, Tudor, Picnic-PostNL, Lotto-Intermarche, Decathlon-CMA CGM and Bahrain Victorious all lead on this wide main road into the final 15km.
Ineos Grenadiers, Soudal-QuickStep, Lotto-Intermarche and Decathlon-CMA CGM are the lucky four teams who won the battle into the narrower roads but other teams are challenging to re-join the front.
Multiple teams are biding their time. Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe and Lidl-Trek are two notable squads not on the front just yet.
Seven squads spread across the road all leading their sprint trains with 6km to go.
Ineos Grenadiers, EF Education-EasyPost, NSN, Soudal-QuickStep, Picnic-PostNL, Decathlon-CMA CGM and Lotto-Intermarche are the teams on the front.
Alpecin-Premier Tech just waiting behind Decathlon-CMA CGM on the left of the peloton with 4km to go. They have numbers there ready for Jasper Philipsen.
Into the final 3km and the pace ramps up even more with some teams responding better than others with Ineos Grenadiers having to put in the most effort to regain their position on the right side of the bunch.
Ganna has done his effort for Welsford early after having to go deep the get them back into a good position with 2km to go.
Lidl-Trek and Decathlon-CMA CGM come up for Milan and Lund.
500 metres to go.
Tobias Lund Andresen (Decathlon-CMA CGM) wins stage 3 of Tirreno-Adriatico 2026! His incredible form continues!!
General Classification on stage 3
1. Isaac Del Toro (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) 10:35'22"
2. Giulio Pellizzari (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) +4"
3. Magnus Sheffield (Ineos Grenadiers) +14"
4. Alan Hatherly (Jayco-AlUla) +18"
5. Primož Roglič (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) +19"
6. Antonio Tiberi (Bahrain Victorious) +21"
7. Matteo Jorgenson (Visma-Lease a Bike) +32"
8. Filippo Ganna (Ineos Grenadiers) +35"
9. Javier Romo (Movistar) S.T.
10. Ben Healy (EF Education-EasyPost) +37"
Make sure to have a read of our post race report for all the analysis and reaction with further reactions to come on our home page throughout the evening...
Tobias Lund Andresen is in quite an incredible purple patch as his confidence must be soaring at his new squad if Decathlon-CMA CGM.
Isaac Del Toro keeps his blue jersey and, actually, extends it by one second thanks to the intermediate sprint third place he got in Casette.
Del Toro, of course, holds the best young rider jersey too.
Along with those two jerseys, Del Toro takes over in the points classification as well thanks to his intermediate sprint efforts. Possibly a jersey he will take all the way to San Benedetto del Tronto.
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