La Vuelta Femenina 2026 stage 3 preview - A day for the opportunists with relentless climbing on the roads to A Coruña

The previous day's stage 2 brought havoc to the peloton with a punishing course of never-ending short climbs. While none were categorized, the day ended with a small-group sprint, with Shari Bossuyt (AG Insurance-Soudal) taking a surprise win and Franziska Koch (FDJ United-Suez) moving into the overall race lead.

Overnight leader Noemi Rüegg (EF Education-Oatly) crashed out just 13km from the finish line.

The peloton will take on another relentlessly undulating day of racing on Tuesday. Again, there may not be categorised ascents on tap for stage 3, but the theme of this Vuelta will be in the route's non-stop ups and downs.

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The third day of racing begins in Padrón, and the peloton will race for 121km along a lumpy course to the finish in A Coruña. We can expect either a winning breakaway or another small-group sprint.

With only seconds separating the top 10 in the GC standings, it is also a good opportunity for GC contenders to gain small gaps on their rivals before the race heads into the proper mountains.

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