Ewan speeds to victory on Tirreno-Adriatico stage 3

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Caleb Ewan (Lotto Soudal) bounced back from several mechanicals to sprint to his third victory of the season on stage 3 of Tirreno-Adriatico.

The Australian beat Arnaud Démare (Groupama-FDJ) and Olav Kooij (Jumbo-Visma) into second and third place on the cobblestones of Terni, having come from behind to overhaul the Frenchman on the slightly uphill finishing stretch.

Groupama-FDJ had taken control of the peloton in the final kilometre after a run from race leader Filippo Ganna (Ineos Grenadiers) and QuickStep-AlphaVinyl in the closing kilometres. The French squad set it up perfectly for Démare, but he couldn't quite finish it off in the end.

Instead, it was Ewan who prevailed, riding Pascal Ackermann's (UAE Team Emirates) wheel further back before coming around the German and Démare to take the win.

"I've been coming here for a few years now, but I always seem to have bad luck or bad form. It's definitely always a race that I want to win at so I'm super happy with how today went," Ewan said after the stage.

"I saw Arnaud with one teammate left and they still looked quite good, so I was on his wheel, and they seemed to go at the right moment. I just knew I had to be top three or four in that last corner and a finish like that suits me when it's slightly uphill and a hard drag to the line.”

Ewan's victory – and comeback from a series of stoppages during the stage – wasn't the only storyline of the stage as Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates) snaffled up three bonus seconds at the day's intermediate sprint to close in to three seconds down on GC rival Remco Evenepoel (QuickStep-AlphaVinyl).

The Slovenian jumped away with Evenepoel's teammate Julian Alaphilippe, as well as his own teammate Marc Soler, and Tao Geoghegan Hart, with the quartet lasting out front until the 10-kilometre mark, where the sprint teams took over.

"I had to use a lot of guys, a lot of my teammates, with that late attack because you can't give those guys so much time," said Ewan. "I used a lot of guys there and I knew that if I was on my own and I could follow the right wheels that I'd know what to do at the finish. So that's what I did, I committed my guys to bringing it back and then I could finish it off in the end."

Ganna retains the race lead after three stages of racing, while Evenepoel remains at 11 seconds down with Pogačar 14 back. Tim Merlier (Alpecin-Fenix) keeps hold of the ciclamino jersey for the points classification, while Davide Bais (Eolo-Kometa) doubled his mountain classification points total to strength his grip on the green jersey.

How it unfolded

The third stage of Tirreno-Adriatico took the peloton into the centre of the Italian peninsula as they raced from the picturesque hilltop village of Murlo in Tuscany to the Umbrian city of Terni. Following the second stage's sprint finish, the 170-kilometre stage 3 was another chance for the fastmen to battle it out, with several hills dotted through the route little impediment to their aim of competing for the stage.

A quick start to the day's action saw a feisty battle for the break on the hilly roads that started the day. A six-man move managed to go clear after just over 10 kilometres of racing, with KOM leader Davide Bais (Eolo-Kometa) joined out front by his older brother Mattia (Drone Hopper-Androni Giocattoli). Mirco Maestri (Eolo-Kometa), Edoardo Zardini (Drone Hopper-Androni Giocattoli), Luca Rastelli (Bardiani-CSF-Faizanè), and Taco van der Hoorn (Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert) completed the group, who were quickly handed six minutes by the slow-rolling peloton.

The early stages of the day were free of drama, save for the peloton eating into the break's advantage as they headed towards the classified climb of La Foce 40 kilometres in. Led by a mix of sprinter's teams, they cut the gap to under three minutes in order to get a tighter hold on the situation. Davide Bais duly jumped away from the break to extend his mountain classification lead on the climb, adding another five points to the five he gained on Tuesday. Shortly after doing his job for the day, the 23-year-old dropped back from the move to save his energy for more of the same in days to come.

In the following kilometres, the likes of Alpecin-Fenix and BikeExchange-Jayco had control of the head of the peloton, working for their sprinters and bringing the gap down under two minutes as they hit the final 100 kilometres of the stage. In the meantime, Caleb Ewan (Lotto Soudal) stopped three times with mechanical problems – first a chain, then a bike change, and lastly a fix to his handlebars – before returning to the peloton with 80 kilometres to go.

Little else went on before the riders hit an unclassified hill 30 kilometres later, when UAE Team Emirates moved to the front of the peloton and pushed the pace. By the top of the hill, less than five kilometres later, the break was over with 47 kilometres left to run.

The team's stint at the front of the peloton seemed to have little other impact of the race, but their intentions became clear as the race reached the intermediate sprint at Amelia. There, as he did behind the break on stage 2, Pogačar jumped out of the peloton to take bonus seconds – three this time.

Alaphilippe followed behind Pogačar's teammate Soler to grab third, while Mikel Landa (Bahrain Victorious) and Geoghegan Hart gave chase on the hilly terrain. The Briton made it across to take it to a group of four up front, while Groupama-FDJ and Jumbo-Visma led the chase behind, 20 seconds back at 20 kilometres to go. By the time the attacking quartet made it to the bottom of the descent, seven kilometres later, the move had almost drawn to a close as the peloton bared down on them.

At 10km to go, they were brought back for good, leaving the flat run-in for the sprinters and their lead-out trains. Numerous teams flowed to the front over the ensuing kilometres, with race leader Ganna an enduring presence at the head of the peloton for three kilometres.

Two kilometres out, QuickStep-AlphaVinyl took over from the Italian, before Groupama-FDJ muscled their way to the front to set it up for Démare. In the end, though, it wasn't to be for the Frenchman, who was beaten at the last by the surging Ewan as the Australian added win number 55 to his palmarès, continuing Lotto Soudal's flying start to 2022.