Ruta del Sol: Gatto wins stage 3 in Padul

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Oscar Gatto (Tinkoff) timed his sprint to perfection to win stage 3 at Vuelta a Andalucia Ruta Ciclista del Sol in Padul. The Tinkoff rider launched himself from the bunch sprint and crossed the line ahead of Ben Swift (Team Sky) and Raymond Kreder (Roompot-Oranje Peloton).

After placing 11th in stage 1, third in stage 2 and second today, Swift has moved into the overall lead with the same time as runner-up Kreder and third place Reto Hollenstein (IAM Cycling).

Stage 3 was a 157.9km race that started in Monachil and offered the peloton a lumpy parcours on the way to the finish line in Padul. The day’s climbs were over Alto del Lucero and Alto de Los Bermejales, then the biggest climb over Puerto del Legionari, and a last little bump over Puerto del Valle.

A seven-rider move escaped and picked up a good lead on the main field but their efforts came to an end at the base of Puerto del Legionario with roughly 25km to go. Team Sky and Movistar shared the workload in bringing back the breakaway with Cofidis holding back and their overall leader Bouhanni nowhere in sight.

Legionari included sections as steep as 20 per cent. Daniel Navarro made an opportunistic move on its slopes and gained a small lead over Movistar’s chase, which effectively took some pressure off of his Cofidis teammates.

Igor Anton (Dimension Data) was the next to make a move on the tricky descent and he tried to join Navarro up the road with 18km to go, but he wasn’t able to fully bridge the gap. He slipped back into the field near the front next to his Dimension Data teammates.

The descent was only about 1.5km long and led straight into the final 2.6km puncher Valle, which topped out with 15km to the finish line.

An aggressive Dimension Data team sent Omar Fraile on the attack to bridge across to Navarro. Fraile desperately tried to connect with Navarro but wound up nestled somewhere between Navarro’s 15-second lead and the main field.

The peloton, reduced in numbers over the tough final 30km, was smaller but still together, and chased the two breakaway riders on the descent that led into the finishing town of Padul.

Fraile finally made contact with Navarro with 7km to go and they worked together to pick up an additional few seconds in their pursuit of the finish line.

Team Sky continued to lead the chase, and it wasn’t until there were less than two kilometres to go that Tinkoff moved ahead and closed the final four-second gap to the two breakaway riders.

Sweeping through wide-open bends and a final turn with under a kilometre to go, it was clear that the sprint was going to be between Sky and Tinkoff. In the sprint, Swift, Gatto, Kreder and Tim Wellens (Lotto Soudal) stretched ahead of the field in the last few hundred metres but it was Gatto who reached the line first.

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