Reusser had accelerated from the group of favourites on the steepest part of the climb with 4.4km to go, and only Kastelijn and Chabbey could stay with her. Chabbey had to let go a few hundred metres later, and Reusser kept pushing hard, finally cracking Kastelijn at the two-kilometre mark. Behind Reusser, riders finished in ones and twos after a challenging climb.
“I had so much time [after stage 2] that I actually did not need to attack. But then the pace was just not so hard, I put a bit harder pace, and then I was off. It was not exactly the plan; it just came out like this,” said Reusser after the stage.
“We said, ‘we are not the leader of the GC, but we can probably go after the stage’, and we behaved like that. We really wanted to control the race and position ourselves well, and they did that until the final climb. Even then, Paula [Patiño] could still do a pace at the beginning of the climb. The team did an amazing job, also the DS, also the rest of the staff, I’m so happy with Movistar, thank you,” Reusser profusely thanked her team for setting up the victory.
With her stage victory, she leads the general classification by 1:10 minutes over Kastelijn going into the stage 4 individual time trial.
“Normally, I’m a good time triallist. It’s my first time trial for almost two years, so I almost don’t remember. No, I do remember, but I’m really curious to do a time trial again. We’ll see,” Reusser looked ahead to the Sunday stage.
How it unfolded
The stage covered only 95.7km from Soncillo to the Picón Blanco but included three third-category climbs along the way to the special-category finishing climb. Antonia Niedermaier (Canyon-SRAM zondacrypto) and Lauretta Hanson (Lidl-Trek) did not start the stage.
Riders line up at the start of stage 3 (Image credit: Getty Images)
After an early move was brought back, the peloton crossed the Ojo Guareña and Alto de la Retuerta climbs together before a breakaway of seven formed with 65km to go: Alison Jackson (EF Education-Oatly), Catalina Soto (Laboral Kutxa-Fundación Euskadi), and Alicia González (St Michel-Preference Home) were joined by Anastasiya Kolesava (Canyon-SRAM zondacrypto), Paula Blasi (UAE Team ADQ), Annemarie Worst (Fenix-Deceuninck), and Siliva Zanardi (Human Powered Health).
Their biggest advantage was 1:50 minutes with 36km to go, then Movistar put their riders to work in the chase, reducing the gap to under a minute. Three riders lost contact on the Alto de Bocos climb, leaving only Kolesava, Blasi, Jackson, and Soto in front at the top, 20km from the finish line.
The last four escapees were caught with 11.7km to go, and Lidl-Trek and Movistar led the peloton into the finishing climb. Patiño set the early pace, reducing the peloton to 15 riders when she swung off with 6.6km to go.
The breakaway on stage 3 (Image credit: Getty Images)
Élise Chabbey (FDJ-Suez) took over, reducing the group further to ten riders other than herself: Katrine Aalerud (Uno-X Mobility), Reusser, Kastelijn, Lotte Kopecky (SD Worx-Protime), Longo Borghini, Barbara Malcotti (Human Powered Health), Amanda Spratt (Lidl-Trek), Juliette Labous (FDJ-Suez), purple jersey Mie Bjørndal Ottestad (Uno-X Mobility), and Valentina Cavallar (Arkéa-B&B Hotels.
Petra Stiasny (Roland) and Ségolène Thomas (St Michel-Preference Home) returned to the group from behind, but on the steepest part of the climb at over 11%, Reusser put in her acceleration that caused the group to explode and set up her solo victory.
Marlen Reusser and Yara Kastelijn on the final climb (Image credit: Getty Images)
Lukas Knöfler started working in cycling communications in 2013 and has seen the inside of the scene from many angles. Having worked as press officer for teams and races and written for several online and print publications, he has been Cyclingnews’ Women’s WorldTour correspondent since 2018.
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