After two days full of action, stage 3 of the Vuelta a Andalucia was a much more structured affair with the sprinters finally getting their first proper chance to go for the win. And it was Milan Fretin (Cofidis) who clinched the victory in Lopera in a photo finish against Paul Penhoet (Groupama-FDJ United) and Christophe Laporte (Visma-Lease a Bike.
The sprint was messy as the route to the finish was tight and twisty. Several riders were boxed in and obstructed, with riders like Tom Pidcock (Pinarello-Q36.5) and Fernando Gaviria (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA) both getting blocked by Laporte’s leadout man, Axel Zingle.
Stage 2 winner Ivan Romeo (Movistar) maintained the yellow race leader’s jersey ahead of Andreas Leknessund (Uno-X Mobility) by 7 seconds, with Laporte in third, 50 seconds down, on the Spanish national champion.
“I’m gonna try and keep it going until Sunday and try to win. I think the last day with the climbs will be difficult," Romeo said after surviving his first day in the yellow jersey. “Lets hope tomorrow is a nice day again and Sunday will be the big day.”
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Stage 4 is another lumpy one, and after an early climb out of the start town of Montoro, there are lots of smaller ascents over the 166km route finishing in Pozoblanco. Overall, though, it's expected to favour the fast men, which will be why Romeo is hoping for another quiet stage.
How it unfolded
Day 3 of the Vuelta a Andalucia, otherwise known as the Ruta del Sol, began in Jaén with the longest stage of the week to Lopera featuring yet another jagged profile as the riders went up and down all day on tough climbs, rapid descents and tricky tight roads. Despite this, the riders only had two category 3 climbs on the menu.
It wasn’t an ideal start to the day for Tom Pidcock (Pinarello-Q36.5) as he lost a key teammate in Quinten Hermans to a DNS, leaving him without his strongest domestique, and meaning his teammates had to step up to the plate to perform for the man from West Yorkshire.
Riders left Jaén and immediately the attacks came after the flag drop with Josh Burnett (Burgos-BH-Burpellet) getting in the early move once again. Burnett was trying to push on to take the lead in the King of the Mountains classification as he came into the day level on 11 points with race leader Ivan Romeo (Movistar) and second overall Andreas Leknessund (Uno-X Mobility). Burnett was joined by Nicolás Alustiza (Euskaltel-Euskadi), Giosuè Epis (Petrolike) and Samuel Flórez (Modern Adventure) with the peloton appearing to be happy with the group as they quickly got a gap of over a minute.
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Over the top of the first category 3 climb of the day, the 5.5km Alto Santa Ana, the break of 4 riders had just under 3 minutes again. The peloton calmed down again as they seemed to have the escapees under control in the early stages of the day. Unsurprisingly, Burnett took the maximum three points that took him into the outright lead in the KOM jersey with Flórez and Alustiza taking the two and one points available.
Over the top of the climb, the gap went out to 3 minutes 20 seconds, the largest gap that any break had achieved so far in this entire race. It all seemed to be very calm and settled for the first time in this Ruta del Sol with the peloton seemingly keen on setting up a sprint later on in the day.
2026 Vuelta a Andalucia stage 3: race leader Iván Romeo during the day's racing (Image credit: Getty Images)
The bad luck continued for Pinarello-Q36.5 as another key domestique for Pidcock, Xandro Meurisse, went down in a crash with 115km to go. The pace was clearly high as the break had lost almost a minute on their gap. Fortunately for Meurisse and his team, he made it back into the bunch again after his spill.
Over the half way point the riders headed to the second climb of the day, another category 3 ascent, the Alto de Peñallana. WIth 80km to go the gap stretched out to 3 minutes yet again as the peloton were just holding the break at arm's length. Once again, it was Burnett who took maximum points on the Alto de Peñallana, extending his lead to 6 points over Romeo and Leknessund.
In the peloton, the pace was going up again into the final 50km with Cofidis, Movistar, Visma-Lease a Bike and Uno-X Mobility. The gap dropped under a minute with 30km to go as the sprinter’s teams looked to set up their fast men in Lopera. The peloton was strung out with the gap coming down all the time. Within five kilometres the gap dropped about 15 seconds with the peloton closing rapidly on the four riders out front. The KOM points behind them, the break could see they weren’t making it to the finish.
The break tried to persevere and Alustiza even launched an attack to try and take the combativity prize when the peloton was right on their tail. Flórez tried to bridge across to the Spaniard as Burnett and Epis were swallowed up by the bunch. Flórez was caught moments later with Alustiza trying to stay clear but to no avail as he was caught with 11km to go.
Into the final 10km Visma-Lease a Bike and UAE Team Emirates-XRG that took control in a mix of working for sprinters and working for GC leaders to make sure they were well placed and safe. Pinarello-Q36.5 and Caja Rural-Seguros RGA came up to challenge with four km to go with UAE Team Emirates-XRG also taking over from Visma-Lease a Bike too.
The finale in Lopera was very chaotic on very tight and twisty roads. The sprint was uphill as well which added to its hectic nature. Zingle gave his all for Laporte but Gaviria coming up on his inside followed by Pidcock caused issues with all of them catching each other out. Finally three riders who all went to the line together with Fretin having the pace to beat Penhoet and Laporte and Sandy Dujardin (TotalEnergies) just behind in fourth.
Tim Bonville-Ginn is a freelance writer who has worked with Cyclingnews since 2023 usually on the live reports. Tim has worked in cycling for many years and has written for some of the biggest publications in cycling media.
He started working as a volunteer for ByTheMin Cycling while at school before getting his first work with Eurosport while still at university. Since then, he worked full-time for Cycling Weekly and has gone on to have a successful freelance career working for Cyclingnews, Rouleur, Cyclist, Velo and many more.
Recently, Tim has also commentated on races in the British National Series for Monument Cycling TV and worked as a media manager for pro teams Human Powered Health and Global6 United.
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