Tom Pidcock (Pinarello Q36.5) put on an impressive display to win a cagey and tactical finale on stage 3 of the Tour of the Alps, beating Tommaso Dati (Team UKYO) – who beat him on stage 1 – to the line in Arco with a perfectly-timed sprint. Egan Bernal (Ineos Grenadiers) was third.
The early breakaway duo of Sam Oomen (Lidl-Trek) and Darren Rafferty (EF Education-EasyPost) looked for long like they would battle it out for the win, but the peloton, led mostly by Pidcock's team throughout the 174km day, managed to bring them back in the final 4km.
From here, there were accelerations from the likes of Ben O'Connor (Jayco AlUla) and Bernal, but they were all marked. Entering the final kilometre, Pidcock was well positioned, but he showed off his skills of old as an elite criterium rider, picking the best line around the outside of the final corner to slingshot into the final 200 metres.
Date threatened to beat him again, but unlike on the first stage, Pidcock had more than enough left in the tank to win the sprint, his first victory since returning from injury for this race, and a great sign ahead of Liège-Bastogne-Liège this Sunday.
Giulio Pellizzari (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) maintained his lead in the general classification ahead of Thymen Arensman (Ineos Grenadiers), with the Dutchman's teammate Bernal moving up to third overall thanks to the bonus seconds he gained on the line.
"On the first climb, I was dropped. I just made it over the top and it's tough. But when we came over the second big climb, I said to the guys 'OK we ride for the stage'. I think that's the mentality that we had, that we would try. They committed 100%," said Pidcock
"I went too early for that last corner; I thought it was sooner when the barriers started and yeah it was quite far, so I was a bit worried. But I saw Egan [Bernal] was the first guy on my wheel, so I thought… Egan is not slow, but I can beat Egan in a sprint and I just went full to the line."
How it unfolded
An early crash took many riders down and several out of the race entirely (Image credit: Getty Images)
Action kicked off early in a negative way on stage 3 of the Tour of the Alps, with a crash in the opening 3km of racing seeing around 30 riders come down, with eight forced to abandon. The most important withdrawal was Lorenzo Finn (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe), who started the day in sixth overall and was set to play a key domestique role for Pellizzari.
Racing resumed after 20 minutes of neutralisation, and the riders were soon onto the first and longest climb of the 174.5km stage from Laces to Arco, the Hofmahdjoch/Passo Castrin (22.4 km at 5.7%).
There were several attacks and attempts to form an early breakaway, and the high tempo caused several splits in the peloton, but only two managed to get away before the crest was reached: Sam Oomen (Lidl-Trek) and Darren Rafferty (EF Education-EasyPost), and they were allowed to build a lead of more than two minutes on the descent.
The Red Bull-led peloton settled into a holding pattern for much of the middle phase of racing, and the next counter-attack didn't come until they were onto the next climb, Andalo (14.4km at 5.1%), when Christopher Juul-Jensen (Jayco AlUla) moved off the front.
That move came to nothing for the Dane, so it remained just the duo in front of the peloton in the final 50km to chase. With just two uncategorised climbs and a downhill run left to tackle to Arco with 30km to go, their lead was still at 1:40, but Pinarello Q36.5 had started to help Red Bull in the peloton.
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Onto the final ascent to Tenno, the peloton started to really ramp up in pace thanks to Red Bull using up resources, and as the break's advantage fell to just 40 seconds, there was a counter move, but it came from Rafferty's teammate, Juan Felipe Rodriguez, with 17km to go.
A bizarre move, he was quickly reeled back by Pinarello pulling behind, but his work had given the peloton a carrot to chase, reducing Oomen and Rafferty's lead down to just 16 seconds over the top of the climb. Just 10km of descending and 4km of flat roads remained.
Darren Rafferty and Sam Oomen out front in the escape of the day (Image credit: Getty Images)
After his team had done a lot of the day's work, Pidcock took over himself on the front of the peloton as they continued to chase downhill, opening up small gaps in the main bunch. Heading into the last 5km, Rafferty and Oomen still had a seven-second lead.
Chris Harper took over for Pinarello Q36.5, looking to set up Pidcock for the finale, and the rest of the GC favourites weren't far behind. Still, Oomen and Rafferty tried to survive in front, but they were in view of the chasers now.
After around 130km in front on stage 3, the leading duo's time in front ended with 3.8km to go, with a small group sprint now expected to decide the day.
Riders tried to attack with no joy, and as the peloton ramped up for the sprint in the last kilometre, it was Pidcock who found his way to the front and slingshotted out of the final corner.
It was early, with Bernal on his wheel and stage 1 winner Dati also in the mix, but Pidcock backed himself and pressed on with his sprint, with enough in his legs to hold off those two for his first win on the comeback from his horror Catalunya crash last month.
Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe control the pace for race leader Giulio Pellizzari (Image credit: Getty Images)
James Moultrie is a gold-standard NCTJ journalist who joined Cyclingnews as a News Writer in 2023 after originally contributing as a freelancer for eight months, during which time he also wrote for Eurosport, Rouleur and Cycling Weekly. Prior to joining the team he reported on races such as Paris-Roubaix and the Giro d’Italia Donne for Eurosport and has interviewed some of the sport’s top riders in Chloé Dygert, Lizzie Deignan and Wout van Aert. Outside of cycling, he spends the majority of his time watching other sports – rugby, football, cricket, and American Football to name a few.
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