Coppi e Bartali: Ben Tulett climbs to victory on stage 3

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Ben Tulett (Ineos Grenadiers) attacked in the final kilometre and won stage 3 of Settimana Coppi e Bartali on Thursday. In a head-to-head uphill battle of the three riders behind Tulett,  race leader Eddie Dunbar (Ineos Grenadiers) took second place, 16 seconds back. Marc Hirschi (UAE Team Emirates) outsprinted Simon Carr (EF Education-EasyPost) for the final spot on the podium.

It was the first pro victory on the road for 20-year-old Tulett, who had finished third just the day before. He moved to second overall in the GC standings, nine seconds behind teammate Dunbar. Hirschi moved to third overall, 24 seconds back, while Carr slotted in fourth position.

A reduced group of a dozen riders contested the final stretch of 5.7km to the finish, which averaged 7.6 per cent for a stiff end to day on the queen stage. Carr vaulted to the front with a vicious surge along with Dunbar with 3 kilometres to race. Sensing the urgency, Hirschi and Tulett moved together to catch the pair and then Tulett made his solo move.

“It feels amazing, to be honest. I can’t quite believe it. I’m really happy to come here and take the win, and of course Eddie coming in second and retain his overall classification. Now we have to keep it and defend the next days. We’re here with a strong team and we’re looking forward to the battle,” said Tulett at the finish.

“We knew it was going to explode on this final climb. I think we controlled the day as a team super good. I attacked with around two kilometres to go and just kept on going to the finish.”

How it unfolded

Stage 3 rolled up the valley by the Conca river with a first-category climb in the opening 30 kilometres at Serra San Marco, at 1,006 metres the highest point of the week. It marked the start of 4,000 metres of total elevation gain for the day. After a second climb at the 74.3km mark, the route moved to a circuit through San Marino, 18.2km each lap covered four times. A second climb on the circuit was the more demanding, 5.7km in length with 7.6 per cent gradient that led across the finish line.

In the first hour there were multiple attacks, but once the long descent was underway to the Marecchia Valley a break of seven riders took firm hold at the front - Mattia Cattaneo (QuickStep-AlphaVinyl), Mason Hollyman (Israel-Premier Tech), Tony Gallopin (Trek-Segafredo), Oscar Riesebeek (Alpecin-Fenix), James Shaw ( EF Education-EasyPost), Edgar Andres Pinzon (Colombia Tierra de Atletas) and Andrea Garosio (Biesse-Carrera)

The front soon expanded its size to 11 when after 52 kilometres a group of four managed to bridge the gap - Antonio Nibali (Astana Qazaqstan), Alessandro Monaco (Giotti Victoria), Luca Covili (Bardiani CSF Faizanè) and Edoardo Zardini (Drone Hopper -Androni Giocattoli) -  and the gap to the peloton soon moved to 4:28.

After another hour and a half as a solid group, Cattaneo was the first rider to launch an aggressive attack and soon opened a gap of more than 40 seconds on his breakaway companions with 50km to go.

After another 25 kilometres, Carosio was able to join Cattaneo as the pair worked together with a three-minute margin over the peloton, but Gallopin and Shaw soon joined from the chasers to make it a solid quartet on the penultimate ascent towards San Marino.

With 20km to go, Cattaneo was reported to go down and lost 30 seconds to his companions - Shaw, Gallopin and Garosio - who continued with 1:50 over a reduced peloton behind.

On the final circuit around San Marino, the race was back together with many of the favourites massing together, however, Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Fenix) was not in the front group.

Just before the final climb, with 10km to go, Guy Niv (Israel-Premier Tech) launched an attack and opened a 14-second gap quickly. His push for glory was soon countered by Marc Hirschi (UAE Team Emirates) on the final ascent in San Marino.

With 3km to go the duo of Carr and race leader Dunbar vaulted to the front, raising the pace for Hirschi and Tulett to give chase and the four pushed together to the finish.