Tirreno-Adriatico: Roglic wins stage 3 in Trevi

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Primoz Roglic (LottoNL-Jumbo) won stage 3 of Tirreno-Adriatico after attacking on the steep slopes of the climb to Trevi. Adam Yates (Mitchelton-Scott) desperately tried to bridge the gap but finished three seconds back while Tiesj Benoot (Lotto Soudal) was third an additional three seconds behind.

"I have already lost some sprints in my career, and I knew I shouldn't wait until the end, and I would go earlier. I just went all out, and it was enough," said Roglic, who was caught up in a crash on the previous stage and lost all prospects for the overall classification.

Geraint Thomas (Team Sky) moved into the overall lead with the same time as runner-up Greg Van Avermaet (BMC). Team Sky showed their overall strength in the general classification as Chris Froome now sits in third place at three seconds back and Michal Kwiatkowski is fifth, nine seconds down.

"A bit unexpected [to be leading] to be honest, but the team was super strong," Thomas said. "We had the plan to get into the bottom of the climb with as many numbers as possible and be in a good position.

"We did that really well, everyone was really good, and then it was just natural selection, see how everyone's legs were and try to go for the stage. I think we can be happy with that, it's nice to get the jersey."

The two finishing circuits in Trevi included a 2.5km climb to the finish line with sections as steep as 20 per cent in the last kilometre. It was expected to be the start of the race for the overall classification at Tirreno-Adriatico.

The day's five-man breakaway crumbled on the steeper grades during the first trip up the climb. Nicola Bagioli (Nippo-Vini Fantini) survived the longest, eventually caught and passed by Edoardo Zardini (Wilier-Selle Italia), as the latter counter-attacked out of a reduced field.

Teams Astana and Sky led the select group bringing everyone back together. Kwiatkowski took the reins on the descent then forced the pace on the approach to the second and final climb to Trevi.

Roglic was the first to attacked on the shallower slopes and then opened the gap as he raced under the flamme rouge. No one behind committed to chasing but as the grade kicked up with 500m to go, Yates jumped clear of the group. It looked as though he might be able to close the gap but the finish line came too soon as Roglic put one arm up in a victory salute.

How it unfolded

The climbing began at Tirreno-Adriatico's third stage from Follonica to Trevi. It was the longest stage of the seven-day race at 239km. There were two intermediate sprints; Moiano (132km) and Montefalco (210km), and four climbs; Roccastrada (35.7km), Passo del Lume Spento (71.1km), La Foce (113.8km) and then twice up the 2.5km climb to Trevi.

Jacopo Mosca (Wilier-Selle Italia), Nicola Bagioli (Nippo-Vini Fantini), Sho Hatsuyama (Nippo-Vini Fantini), Dennis van Winden (Israel Cycling Academy) and Stepan Kurianov (Gazprom-Rusvelo) formed the day's main breakaway. They set off just after the start in Follonica and built a nine-minute lead by the time they reached the 40km mark.

Mosca and Bagiolo were in the previous day's breakaway with the latter sitting up after picking up points in the only KOM. He started the stage wearing the green jersey of the best climber.

Bagiolo increased his lead in the mountain classification after taking full points over the first three climbs of the day.

Mosca had picked up the two intermediate sprints in stage 2 but this time around it was Kurianov who took the points in the first sprint in Moiano.

Patrick Bevin (BMC) started the day in the blue leader's jersey, but this didn't grant him any protection or other luxuries that an overall leader might normally expect. Instead, BMC put him to work setting tempo to manage the time gap to the breakaway.

As he said in a post-stage 2 interview, he was merely babysitting the leader's jersey, while to team hoped Greg Van Avermaet would win the punchy stage. Van Avermaet took some of the pressure off of his own shoulders in Follonica tipping Bora-Hansgrohe's Peter Sagan and Team Sky's Michal Kwiatkowski as favourites for the win in Trevi.

The break entered the final 50km with 6:30 over the peloton. Bora-Hansgrohe sent German champion Marcus Burghardt to help Bevin with the chase effort at the head of the bunch. Movistar lined out just behind but didn't add to the chase.

An unfortunate crash while dropping back through the peloton, took down Bevin. He remounted and got service from the race medical car, but his chasing duties were over. A second crash took out Simon Geschke, who was conscious but carried off course on a stretcher with a broken collarbone.

The gap dropped to two minutes ahead of the second intermediate sprint over a punchy climb, Montefalco, also an important point of the race because of its proximity to Trevi.

The gap dropped to 1:30 over the top of Montefalco, where Mosca took the points. Niki Terpstra (Quick-Step Floors) jumped out of the field in a solo counter-attack. It was short-lived, however, as he was swept up by the reduced bunch as they approached the first of two finishing circuits.

Team Sky led the charge up the last climb, and although they lost the stage to Roglic, they didn't come away empty-handed as Thomas moved into the overall lead.

Tirreno-Adriatico will continue with stage 4 on Saturday with a summit finish at Sarnano Sassotetto. 

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