Vuelta a España stage 3 LIVE: Tadej Pogačar and his rivals poised for the first uphill finish of the race
Gruissan-Aude to Font Romeu, 174 km
Despite crashing yesterday and being in some pain, Cian Uijtdebroeks took to the start today and is still racing. The Movistar rider is a key climbing domestique for Enric Mas, and even a dark horse for GC himself, but will have to dig deep and fight through the pain to avoid losing a lot of time today.
The six riders up the road, whose lead has grown to 2:40.
As you can see, there are no rips in Ethan Hayter’s shorts, unlike yesterday. That strange sartorial choice was explained by the Brit after the stage yesterday.
150KM TO GO
The break's lead is being kept held steady, at 2:10.
That's enough to make Ethan Hayter (pictured here in green at the start of the day) the virtual leader on GC, but they will need a lot more time to stand a chance of holding off the peloton on the final climbs later.
Tadej Pogačar’s UAE team have taken control of the peloton, in defence of his red jersey. And are keeping the gap at two minutes. This isn’t the pace of a team seeking to loan out the red jersey to another rider - and regardless, none of the riders in the break are likely to be strong enough climbers to hold off the peloton even if they were given a big lead.
Of the 6 riders in the break, Hayter is the only man with 1:40 of Pogačar on GC, at 29 seconds.
1:30 now for the break ahead of the peloton, which looks content to let this group go. There is one poursuivant, Milan Vader (Bahrain Victorious), who is trying to join the sextet, but he’s drifting backwards and looks set to be caught.
Although it finishes with a couple of climbs, the entire first two thirds of the stage is flat,, which explains the make-up of the break.
Ethan Hayter is in the action again! A 6-man group has got up the road and has a lead of almost a minute. Could this be the break of the day already?
Also with the Brit are Mats Wenzel (Equipo Kern Pharma), Timo Roosen (Picnic PostNL), Asbjørn Hellemose (Jayco-AlUla), Olivier Le Gac (Groupama-FDJ) and Magnus Cort (Uno-X Mobility).
Here are both the stage winners so far at the start, Tadej Pogačar and Matthew Brennan, sandwiching Ethan Hayter, who has been frustrated in his attempts to swap the green jersey he's wearing for the red.
The riders are on the move in Gruissan for the unofficial start, and are waiting for the flag to signify racing has begun.
Yesterday, Matthew Brennan claimed a sensational sprint victory on just his second day of Grand Tour racing, suggesting that he could be one of the stars of this Vuelta. But with such a tough finale, today certainly won't be a stage for him, as the climbers come to the fore instead.
Of course, the man we’re all expecting to be going best is Tadej Pogačar, especially following his victory on the stage one time trial. He’s in the red jersey, and may look to extend his lead today - and possibly go for another stage win, too.
The Vuelta wouldn’t be the Vuelta without an early uphill finish, and this year the riders have only had to wait until day three for the first. This stage climaxes with a double-header of the category one Col de Mon-Louis, followed by an uphill finish to the category two summit Font Romeu.
They’re far from the hardest challenges the riders will face this race, but it should be enough to draw the GC riders into a fight and give us a clear sign of who's going the best.
Hello and welcome to stage three of the Vuelta a España!
