Vuelta a España: Matthews wins stage 3 in Arcos de la Frontera

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Michael Matthews delivered on the hard work done for much of the day by his Orica-GreenEdge teammates with a beautifully judged victory on stage three of the Vuelta a Espana after four very technical final kilometres in Arcos de la Frontera.

The Vuelta peloton had been stretched first by a pinch point coming into and over a narrow bridge 2.5km from home, then by several tight turns through the town. Then came a kilometre-long climb up to the finish, where Katusha’s Giampaolo Caruso was the first to dart clear, rapidly opening up a 50-metre advantage.

However, the Italian couldn’t sustain his effort. As he faded, with little more than 200 metres remaining, Garmin-Sharp’s Dan Martin flew past. The Irishman, though, had the fast-finishing Matthews right on his wheel and could only slam his bars with frustration as the Australian accelerated by on the right to take victory.

The win, his third at the Vuelta after two successes in 2013, also moved Matthews into leader’s red jersey thanks to a 10-second time bonus. Having already led the Giro d’Italia earlier this year, Matthews now sits at the top of the Vuelta’s GC, four seconds clear of Movistar’s Nairo Quintana.

“Nothing was planned but fortune smiled on me again,” said Matthews. "I’ve already lived a dream this season by wearing the maglia rosa for six days at the Giro and now that dream is continuing today at the Vuelta. I hope to keep the red jersey for as long as possible.”

Quintana was the only Movistar rider to finish in the 16-strong group credited with the same time as Matthews. Alejandro Valverde, the race leader going into today’s stage missed out. He went down in a crash with two teammates 20km from the finish. Although he remounted quickly, he was complaining of a back injury at the finish.

However, Joaquim Rodríguez (Katusha), Wilco Keldermann (Belkin), Chris Froome (Sky), Rigoberto Urán (Omega Pharma) and Alberto Contador (Tinkoff-Saxo) were all credited with the same time as Matthews.

Contador admitted he felt he was lacking punch on the final ramps, but described himself as pleased with his performance. “I was well supported by the team and my knee didn’t hurt me, but I will have to put some ice on it now,” the Spaniard told EFE. He added: “I don’t want to lose ground in the race, but I have to recognize that there are rider in much better shape than me at the moment.”

How it unfolded

Race director Javier Guillén has been very clear about his desire to spice up the Vuelta in the attempt to draw in new fans, and today’s neutralised stage start on the deck of the Don Juan Carlos I aircraft-carrier was certainly part of that strategy. Once racing got under way, less than 10km had passed before a break went away.

The five riders in it were Danilo Wyss (BMC Racing Team), Luis Mas Bonet (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA), Jonathan Fumeaux (IAM Cycling), Jérôme Cousin (Europcar) and, for the second day in a row, Jacques Janse Van Rensburg (MTN-Qhubeka). Their advantage quickly ballooned, reaching eight minutes after 50km.

The peloton reacted to that margin by upping its pace, halving the break’s lead as its five members tackled the first climb of the day, the Puerto de Galís, where Cousin was first over the top. The Frenchman scored a repeat success on the Alto Alcornocales, where the gap was down to 3-10 with 88km to go. Orica-GreenEdge were doing the pace-making on the front of the bunch, signposting their faith in Matthews’ sprinting ability.

The third climb saw Fumeaux fall away from his four companions in the break. Soon after Mas Bonet went off in the other direction, attacking the other escapees. The Caja Rural rider quickly pushed out his lead over both the trio chasing behind and the peloton. After he had led over Alto del Camino, Mas Bonet continued to press, his lead reaching almost five minutes, before the peloton reacted once again on the fourth and final third-category pass of the day, the Puerto del Boyar.

By then, with 46km to the finish, Bonet led by just 2-20. With the King of the Mountains jersey secured and no chance of holding off the peloton, the Spaniard eased and was caught with 25km left. Soon after, Movistar had a scare when Adriano Malori got in a tangle with a musette as it was handed up by a soigneur at the roadside and took a tumble, taking down day one leader Jonathan Castroviejo with him, and narrowly missing stage two winner Bouhanni and Sky’s Chris Froome.

As the bunch breezed up a rise with 13km remaining, Lotto’s Adam Hansen blasted clear. The Australian riding his 10th grand tour in succession quickly gained 20 seconds on the peloton, where Sky took over on the front in a bid to keep Froome out of danger going into that pinch point 2.5km from the line.

The increase in pace soon put paid to Hansen’s foray, Giant-Shimano and Omega Pharma adding their weight to the pace-making heading towards the turn onto the bridge that Froome had earlier identified as the key point of the day. Only good placement there meant a shot at the stage win two kilometres later, and Orica’s work meant that Matthews was right where he needed to be to take advantage.

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