Vuelta a España: Dan Martin powers to stage 3 summit win

Dan Martin (Israel Start-Up Nation) won an uphill sprint between the overall favourites to claim stage 3 of the Vuelta a España at La Leguna Negra.

The Irishman out-sprinted race leader Primož Roglič (Jumbo-Visma) and Richard Caparaz (Ineos Grenadiers), second and third respectively, from a small group atop the category 1 mountain.

Roglič remains in the red jersey, but the bonus seconds gained at the line means that Martin has reduced his deficit to just five seconds. Carapaz remains in third place, now at 13 seconds from the Slovenian.

Most of the other GC riders finished a few seconds down, with Enric Mas (Movistar), Hugh Carthy (EF Pro Cycling) and Sepp Kuss (Jumbo-Visma) sprinting for sixth, eighth and ninth place respectively. The only exception was Esteban Chaves (Mitchelton-Scott), who lost significant time after suffering an unfortunate mechanical earlier on the final climb. 

He falls from fourth to eighth overall, now 1:29 down on Roglič, in what was the only significant reshuffle at the top of the general classification. 

This was Martin’s first victory since July 2018, and he gave an emotional interview after claiming it. 

“I've come so close this year to winning. And I just really wanted to win a stage for this team as they’ve been so good to me. The sponsors have supported us all through Covid.

“The team was really motivated for the whole of lockdown because of that, to train harder. Obviously with the injury at the Tour we couldn’t win a stage there, but I was really determined to win a stage today.

“The team was amazing, every single of them played a part in the victory. It’s part for them, and part for my wife. This is the first time I’ve won a race since my kids [twins Daisy and Ella] were born, and it’s really special,” Martin said.

How it unfolded

The third stage of the Vuelta a España was yet another one for the GC riders, with the category 1 Laguna Negra hosting the day’s finish. With only one small categorised climb coming before it, all the action was expected to take place on that final mountain. 

The day began with news that Thibaut Pinot (Groupama-FDJ) had abandoned the race, citing lingering pain from the back injury sustained from his crash on the opening day of the Tour de France. 

Matej Mohoric (Bahrain-McLaren) also failed to start the stage, after breaking his shoulder blade in a crash yesterday. 

A five-man break went clear at the start of the stage in Lodosa, consisting of Mark Donovan (Team Sunweb), Tosh Van der Sande (Lotto Soudal), Niki Terpstra (Total Direct Energie), Aritz Bagües (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA) and Willie Smit (Burgos-BH). 

Like yesterday, they were granted only a moderate lead, with Jumbo-Visma riding in the peloton to keep them pegged at around four minutes. 

The weather took a turn for the worse as the race reached Puerto de Oncala, a 17km climb that averages just 2.6 per cent, with a shower and blustery wind prompting the riders to put on rain jackets and other protective clothing. 

Van der Sande took maximum points at the top of the ascent ahead of Smit, by which time the break’s advantage had fallen to 2:42.

The strong winds and dark clouds put the peloton on high alert, and the likes of EF Pro Cycling, Astana and Movistar massed at the front of the peloton in anticipation of a change of direction or sudden downpour. 

The anticipated weather drama never materialised, but this upping of the pace sounded the death knell for the breakaway, as the gap rapidly tumbled. At 57km from the finish, they were brought back.

Seven kilometres later, once the peloton had calmed down, four riders broke out of the peloton to form a new breakaway: Angel Madrazo (Burgos-BH), Valentin Ferron (Total Direct Energie), Paul Ourselin (Total Direct Energie) and Hector Saez (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA). 

Although their advantage quickly grew to 1:30, they were never going to be given enough of an advantage once the GC teams upped the pace in anticipation of the approaching final climb. The break survived long enough for Saez to win the intermediate sprint 18km from the finish, but was swept up just as they started climbing Laguna Negra.

Any plans Movistar might have had to attack on the final climb were compromised when yesterday’s stage winner Marc Soler had a problem at the foot of the climb, prompting a couple of teammates to drop back and help him. 

Instead, Ineos Grenadiers controlled the peloton on the lower slopes of the mountain with Dylan van Baarle, Chris Froome and Andrey Amador. 

Chaves suffered a mechanical one-third into the climb, requiring him to exchange his bike with a teammate’s that was noticeably too big for him. The Colombian was unable to get back up to the favourites, but did at least manage to limit his losses to 1:06 by the finish. 

Kenny Elissonde (Trek-Segafredo) attacked 2.7km from the top, but did not last long as Ineos Grenadiers' final domestique, Ivan Sosa, set a searing pace. 

Once Sosa swung off at 1.5km to go, the attacks came thick and fast, with Mas, Kuss, and Felix Grossschartner (Bora-Hansgrohe) each putting in digs in the hope of winning the stage.

No attack managed to stick, however, and things came down to a sprint. Martin kicked things off by starting his sprint early, and although Carapaz and Roglič were able to stay on his wheel as the others drifted away, neither managed to pass the Irishman at the finish line.