Juan Pedro López (Lidl-Trek) moved into the overall lead at the Tour of Alps after he soloed to victory in Schwaz on stage 3. On a gloomy day of rain and cold in Austria, the Spaniard produced a sparkling attack to claim his first professional win, while Tobias Foss (Ineos Grenadiers) surrendered his green jersey despite a fine display at the head of the chasing group behind in third place.
The winning move was sparked by Giulio Pellizzari (VF-Bardiani CSF-Faizanè) near the top of the ascent of Pillberg with 27km remaining. López immediately jumped across to the Italian, and the pair struck up a solid working alliance on the rugged terrain that followed.
López and Pellizzari held a lead of more than 40 seconds after the penultimate climb of Weerberg, and they retained that advantage as they tackled Pillberg for the second and final time.
After Pellizzari withstood López’s first attack, the Spaniard kicked again two kilometres from the summit, this time forging clear alone. He maintained his buffer on the 4km drop to the line to claim stage victory, 22 seconds clear of Pellizzari.
The green jersey group was whittled down dramatically on the last two climbs, with Geraint Thomas (Ineos Grenadiers) among those to lose contact. In his absence, Foss had to do the bulk of the pace-making on the ascents, and the Norwegian performed his task admirably. Although he was unable to reel López back in, he snuffed out an attack from Wout Poels (Bahrain Victorious) and reduced the green jersey group to just a handful of riders that included Romain Bardet (DSM-Firmenich PostNL) and Ben O’Connor (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale).
Foss would later win the sprint for third place, 38 seconds down on López. In the overall standings, López holds a lead of 31 seconds over Foss, with O’Connor lying third at 45 seconds.
"It was an amazing day for me, because it's my first pro victory," López said. "But it was a really shit day for everybody, because we started with rain and 4°C. It was one of the hardest days on the bike in my life.
"We started with one objective, which was not to get cold, but that was impossible. At the end I changed to the other objective, I tried to go for the stage. In the beginning, I didn't feel good, I couldn't feel my hands. But in the end, my legs felt good, which is the most important thing, no?"
How it unfolded
Steady rain and temperatures of 4°C greeted the peloton on Wednesday's stage around Schwaz, which had a slightly earlier start to avoid a broadcast clash with the finale of Flèche Wallonne. Neither the early hour nor the miserable conditions served to deter Filippo Ganna (Ineos Grenadiers), who powered away in the opening kilometres and settled into a lone raid off the front.
The lack of company did little to deter Ganna, whose solo effort served a dual purpose. His presence off the front meant that his Ineos teammates didn't have to work to defend Tobias Foss' green jersey, and it also served as a most useful work-out for the Hour Record holder ahead of the Giro d'Italia.
Ganna established a maximum lead of 3:30 during his extended, televised training session, with DSM-Firmenich PostNL performing much of the pace-making in the peloton behind. The gap began to drop, however, on the approach to the day's main difficulties, the two laps over the category 2 climbs of Weerberg and Pillberg.
Ganna dropped inside three minutes with 40km remaining, and the gap shrank more quickly once the road began to climb the Weerberg. The Italian survived over the top, but he would be swept up on the lower slopes of the Pillberg as DSM continued their pace-making.
The racing among the GC contenders sparkled into action a couple of kilometres from the top of the Pillberg, where Romain Bardet (DSM-Firmenich PostNL) tested the waters with an attack that splintered the green jersey group and appeared to put Geraint Thomas (Ineos Grenadiers) in difficulty.
Bardet was quickly reeled in, with Foss controlling affairs, but that didn't quell the attacking. Giulio Pellizzari (VF-Bardiani CSF-Faizanè) was the next to try his luck, and when the Italian pressed clear, Juan Pedro López (Lidl-Trek) bounded across in pursuit. The pair crested the summit with 20 seconds or so in hand on the green jersey group, and they combined well to extend that buffer as they swung around to take on the pair of climbs for a second time.
By now, Thomas was working in the green jersey group on behalf of Foss, though Pellizzari and López were still stretching out their lead, which reached 50 seconds on the approach to the penultimate climb.
Pellizzari and López still had 40 seconds in hand when they crested the summit, while the green jersey group was reduced to just 20 or so riders after Foss himself put in a long turn on the ascent, with Thomas losing contact more definitively near the summit.
By now, López and Pellizzari were growing in confidence, and they hit the foot of the last, 3.2km ascent of Pillberg still with 40 seconds over their pursuers. López looked to shake off his companion with an early acceleration, but Pellizzari held firm on the lower slopes.
2km from the summit, however, López kicked again, and this time the Spaniard managed to open a gap over Pellizzari as he set off in pursuit of his first professional victory.
Back in the green jersey group, meanwhile, Wout Poels (Bahrain Victorious) jumped on the offensive on the ascent, opening a small gap. Foss, now without Thomas, took up the reins of pursuit, and men like Bardet were content to let the Norwegian perform the bulk of the heavy lifting as he reeled Poels back in.
Foss' effort didn't make any inroads into López's lead, but it did serve to whittle down the green jersey group still further. By the time he reached the summit with 4.5km to go, he had just seven riders for company – Bardet, Ben O'Connor, Valentin Paret-Peintre, Aurélien Paret-Peintre (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale), Poels, Antonio Tiberi (Bahrain Victorious) and Iván Sosa (Movistar).
The Norwegian would lose the jersey at day's end, but his pace-making has nonetheless helped to refine the list of challengers for overall victory ahead of Thursday's pivotal stage over the Passo del Vetriolo to Borgo Valsugana.
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