Tirreno-Adriatico stage 3 - As it happened live

Hello and welcome to our live coverage of stage 3 of Tirreno-Adriatico.

Another day for the sprinters coming up today with the second-longest stage of the race, a 216km run from Follonica to Foligno.

The map of today's long stage as the peloton heads inland and east.

The stage is due to kick off in a few minutes as riders hit the road for a 6.4km neutral start.

Stage 2 winner Fabio Jakobsen will be looking for another win here.

Check out the stage 2 race report here.

It was a close on in the sprint finish between Jakobsen, Philipsen and Gaviria.

Come the sprint, it was Fernando Gaviria who stole a march on the rest, blasting through an open space in the Jayco-AlUla lead out at 300 metres to go. The Colombian put clear air between his back wheel and his rivals, but Philipsen was quick to react.

The Dutchman managed to push past Jakobsen’s last man, Bert Van Lerberghe, to close the gap to Gaviria at the 75-metre mark. However, Jakobsen was just behind, and was ready to launch himself into the wind at 50 metres to go.

In the dying metres, Gaviria was passed on his right by the Dutch duo – but only just – with Jakobsen’s momentary slipstream in the wheel of Philipsen perhaps just enough to help him launch to his second victory of 2023.

Here's a look at stage 2 as it happened live.

Here's the current GC as well as stage 2 results.

215km to go

The stage is now underway and riders are on the attack.

Several riders from Eolo-Kometa and Corratec are on the move early on.

Eolo-Kometa brothers Davide and Mattia Bais are in the move. For Corratec, it's Stefano Gandin and Alessandro Iacchi.

It already looks like this four-man move might be the break of the day.

210km to go

Three of these four men were in the five-man break yesterday. Gandin beat Davide Bais for the green KOM jersey, while Iacchi was also in the move.

Gandin on the podium in green after stage 2.

The four-man move has around 30-40 seconds on the peloton currently.

Two classified climbs on the menu today so it looks like Bais and Gandin will be doing battle once more.

199km to go

The breakaway now has an advantage of nearly three minutes.

Primoz Roglic still to shave his legs but shows his form at Tirreno-Adriatico

'After an altitude camp, I felt I was good enough to race again' says Jumbo-Visma rider after a nearly six-month absence from racing

195km to go

Almost six minutes for the breakaway riders.

An unclassified hill on the way for the riders at this early stage. Today's stae has 1,800 metres of climbing.

182km to go

5:50 for the four-man breakaway.

A look at the day's breakaway with Gandin in the lead.

No change in the situation over the top of that hill. The riders are on flat roads now.

Lefevere plays down possible Jakobsen-Merlier sprint rivalry for Tour de France

"For the Tour, we have 12 candidates and there'll be a natural selection" insists Belgian team manager

170km to go

Still five minutes between the break and peloton.

The riders are approaching the base of the Passo del Lume Spento.

The climb is 12.5km at an average of 4.2%. A long one but not steep.

Eolo-Kometa are pushing the pace in the break up the climb. They want that green jersey.

142km to go

Gandin and Iacchi have dropped away.

The pair are now a minute down on the Bais brothers.

Davide Bais took the points at the top of the climb, unsurprisingly.

135km to go

Five minutes between the leaders and the peloton.

‘I just need to keep going and prove that I am fast’ - Fabio Jakobsen

Tirreno-Adriatico stage 2 winner says Tour de France still on schedule but team will choose between him and Merlier

Davide Bais is now the KOM classification leader. He added five points to move to eight, while Gandin now had a total of seven. One more classified climb left on today's stage.

On the way down the descent there's still a gap separating the Eolo-Kometa and Corratec riders. The Bais brothers will look to push on and ensure they hit the climb of La Foce at 102km to go on their own.

Dries Devenyns is once again doing the work at the head of the peloton for Soudal-QuickStep. Jayco-AlUla, Ineos Grenadiers, and Alpecin-Deceuninck are also up there.

120km to go

5:40 between the Eolo riders and the peloton. The Corratec duo are 1:30 down now.

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113km to go

Back to the action at Tirreno-Adriatico and the leaders are approaching the climb at La Foce. Two minutes between the breakaway split now.

Six minutes back to the peloton.

Alpecin-Deceuninck and Soudal-QuickStep up front in the peloton.

Jayco-AlUla are also up there.

Another five points for Davide Bais on La Foce and he now has 13 to cement his lead in the KOM standings. Gandin is now second with nine points.

105km to go

The riders have now passed the halfway point of today's stage.

Gandin and Iacchi have now dropped back to the peloton.

95km to go

Davide and Mattia Bais have four minutes on the peloton.

Largely flat roads to the finish now. It should be another bunch sprint in Foligno.

87km to go

The break's advantage has fallen off quite a bit and is now under two minutes.

Bora-Hansgrohe, Jayco-AlUla, and Alpecin-Deceuninck are all at the front of the peloton at the moment.

Under a minute for the two leaders now. 

78km to go

Not long left for the breakaway brothers.

Davide Bais leads the way over the intermediate sprint of the day.

The gap remains at 45 seconds. The peloton looks content to let the pair hang out front for a while.

71km to go

Is there any need for stages like this to be over 200km long? What a waste of time.

Maybe something is actually happening in Paris-Nice today.

You can follow stage 4 live here.

Here's a shot of the peloton because why not...

Davide and Mattia Bais are caught at the feed zone. 

There's still almost two hours of this to go.

Surprisingly nobody wants to go on a counter-attack 70km from the finish with nothing to compete for before the stage finish and no hope of winning the stage!

64km to go

The peloton is racing along towards the finish.

Michael Matthews 'still waiting for apology' from Van Hooydonck

'I hope he knows what he did wrong and won't do it again'

The riders are 10 minutes slower than the slowest schedule today. A 38.2kph average speed so far.

58km to go

The peloton is racing along towards the finish.

Here's a photo of Cofidis rider Axel Zingle, who is racing in the peloton today.

It's still all together in the peloton! They're traversing a flat section of road at the moment and all the riders are riding along together in the peloton. 

Davide Formolo is talking to Davide Cimolai. Someone from Bora-Hansgrohe is wiping their nose. Atilla Valter is also there.

52km to go

Action at the front!

An Astana rider moves up around the outside of the peloton.

Various teams are represented at the front. Nobody seems to want to go on the attack from 50km out though. 

The peloton has sped up a little, though they could be going 20kph or 50kph for all the difference it makes. At least this way the end of the stage will come sooner.

47km to go

The peloton is racing along towards the finish.

AG2R rider Michael Schär having a laugh earlier in the stage. At least someone is having fun.

Movistar, UAE, Jumbo, DSM are up front in the peloton.

Eurosport commentators are hoping against hope that "five little climblets" will provide some action in the next few kilometres.

"Could be a launchpad." Hmm..

These hills are so minor that it would be a shock to see anybody drop out the back of the peloton, let alone try an attack.

41km to go

There are 41km left to run today.

Will Fabio Jakobsen add to his win list later today? He'll have Jasper Philipsen, Fernando Gaviria, Biniam Girmay, Juan Molano, Phil Bauhaus, Dylan Groenewegen, Mark Cavendish, and more to contend with at the finish.

Yeah, nothing happened on those small climbs.

37km to go

We're closer to finish than we were before, so that's something.

The peloton.

Intermarché-Circus-Wanty join the teams at the front.

30km to go

Not much going on at the moment.

The peloton is still together.

Into the final 30km and the pace is high. Still no moves.

25km to go

Still the same set of teams at the front.

The pace has slowed again.

DSM, Cofidis, Israel, UAE, AG2R, Movistar all up front.

21km to go

So near and yet so far.

A look at the final kilometres of today's stage. A few twists and turns including a bend towards the finish. We'll get there eventually.

I think Carlton Kirby has used the redundant phrase "mob-handed" to describe the peloton four or five times by this point.

16km to go

The peloton is all together and heading towards the finish.

The pace is upping a little. Jumbo-Visma in charge.

Negasi Abreha (Q36.5) goes down in a crash, his rear tyre hanging off the rim. The tyre came off before he hit the ground.

12km to go

AG2R and Jumbo-Visma up front.

The peloton is lined out as the speed goes up.

Some splits at the front as Jumbo-Visma push onwards.

10km to go

Can't believe something has actually happened during this stage.

Around 10 riders in the lead group.

More riders come across. The peloton only a few seconds back.

Five Jumbo riders up front. Girmay, Alaphilippe, Ganna, Philipsen, Geoghegan Hart all up there too.

Movistar and QuickStep among the teams leading the chase.

Around 19 men in the front group.

Jakobsen and Gaviria aren't there.

Roglic and Van Aert are up there along with O'Connor, Ganna, Sheffield, Geoghegan Hart, Alaphilippe, Yates, Molano, Girmay, Caruso.

7km to go

Jumbo led the move but now there's a lull as others take it up. The peloton only a handful of seconds behind, meanwhile.

5km to go

Everybody taking turns at the front of that lead group now, sprinters and GC men alike.

The gap remains at 6-7 seconds.

4km to go

All back together now.

Movistar up front with Jumbo-Visma in the final 3km.

Now Soudal-QuickStep are back in control.

2km to go

Other teams like Bahrain and Arkéa also fighting for positions. Alpecin-Deceuninck move up, too.

QuickStep the most prominent team on the front, however.

A few Bahrain and Alpecin riders in the middle of the QuickStep train.

1km to go

Sharp right-hander coming up before the curving run to the finish line.

Trek-Segafredo and Bahrain on the front here.

A little chicane at 800m to go.

Bahrain lead it out ahead of Van der Poel.

Now Alpecin-Deceuninck hit the front.

A great lead out by Van der Poel.

Philipsen jumps at 125 metres to go. Bauhaus behind him.

Van der Poel celebrates early!

Jasper Philipsen wins the stage.

Bauhaus took second on the Dutchman's wheel. Girmay was third after sneaking past Matteo Moschetti at the line.

A great lead out from Van der Poel.

QuickStep and Jakobsen were nowhere in the end.

First win of the year for Jasper Philipsen today.

Jakobsen was ninth in the end. Van Aert sixth. Groenewegen eighth.

Philipsen celebrates his win in Foligno.

Thanks to the Dutchman for finally bringing that one to a close. What an ordeal.

Here's what Jasper Philipsen had to say after the finish as he took Alpecin-Deceuninck's first win of the season.

"Always nice to win and definitely after a team effort like this, to win like this is even more nice.

"Our teammate Gianni Vermeersch already said in a meeting this morning that crosswinds were possible in the final 10-15km. Actually, I didn't see it happening anymore but Jumbo-Visma were really strong and I was quite far behind. I could take Ganna's wheel and he managed to bridge to the first group. But in the end, it all came together and it was an expected bunch sprint.

"At the start of the season it didn't go like we all hoped with the team, I think. But of course, it's still early and we just had to stay calm and do like we did in previous years and then the wins will come. A team effort like today with Oscar [Riesebeek] pulling the peloton all day, the team keeping me in position and then in the end I didn't really have to make a long sprint because Mathieu's lead out was so strong and that makes it so nice."

Philipsen celebrates his win ahead of Bauhaus.

Here's what Mathieu van der Poel said after the finish..,

"I'm super happy. I think yesterday we just missed out on the win and today we did everything perfect. I'm really glad and I hope that this is the start for more victories for the team.

"I don't go for GC or anything so if I'm in the first echelon it's good and if I'm not then it's not a drama. But for sure I'm glad we came back so I could help Jasper in the sprint."

And a thrilling interview as ever from race leader Filippo Ganna.

"I'm behind. I never see the sprint. It was really stressful with wind in the final but it's OK.

"We tried to take the gap but in the end, the bunch is back.

"We'll see tomorrow."

Some hills coming up tomorrow so the stage shouldn't be as dull as it was today.

Here's our stage 3 report and a look back at the final kilometre.

Follow the finale of Paris-Nice stage 4 live here.

That's it for stage 3 of Tirreno-Adriatico, see ya tomorrow.