Vuelta a San Juan Stage 3 – Live Coverage

Hello and welcome to the stage 3 individual time trial at the Vuelta a San Juan.

Today’s race is 15.5km against the clock starting in Ullum and finishing in Punta Negra. After the opening two sprint stages, the general classification contest will begin today.

Unlike in previous years, the time trial today is not completely flat. The final part climbs to the Punta Negra Dam.

Last year, Julian Alaphilippe (Deceuninck-QuickStep) won a road race on stage 2 that finished at the Punta Negra Dam. He then won the stage 3 time trial that was held in Pocito.

Unfortunately, Alaphilippe was forced to pull out of the race today, and he will not start the stage 3 time trial, after suffering from stomach problems.

You can read more about that here.

Fernando Gaviria (UAE Team Emirates) will be the last rider off the starting ramp today. He is leading the overall classification after winning the stage 2 bunch sprint.

You can view the top 10 overall classification ahead of the time trial below.

The time trial officially begun about 25 minutes ago as the first rider off was Ruben Simao (Tavira Maria Nova Lounge Hotel) at 16:56 local time.

We are starting to get the first finishing times and it's Willian Muñoz (Colombia-GW Bicicletas) who currently has the fastest time of 22:45.

Tom Bohli (UAE Team Emirates) has just set the new fastest time of 21:43

Here are the current top 10 in the individual time trial standings with still well over half of the riders to go.

Some riders are not racing the time trial for a top placing in the stage or a strong performance in the GC, and are just cruising to the finish line on a regular road bike set-up.

Argentina's Leonardo Cobarrubia (SEP de San Juan) has just beaten Tom Bohli's time by 34 seconds. He finished with a time of 21:09.

Movistar's Johan Jacobs finished with a quick time, but slotted into third place at 41 seconds slower than Cobarrubia.

The riders are racing on a flat course until they reach the base of the climb up to the Punta Negra Dam. The finishing straight away runs alongside the scenic dam with a mountainous backdrop. 

We can expect a strong performance from the Italian Filippo Ganna. He is a three-time individual pursuit world champion and bronze medallist in the time trial at the 2019 UCI Road World Championships held in Yorkshire. He is not racing for his trade team, Team Ineos, but rather for the Italian national team at the San Luis race.

Also starting later in the day is Remco Evenepoel (Deceuninck-QuickStep), who was second in the time trial at the World Championships. Watch for a strong performance from him, too.

Cobarrubia is still sitting in the hot seat after his early bench-mark performance of 21:09.

Robinson Ruiz (Peru) is currently out on course and close to finishing his time trial. 

He was involved in the previous day's stage 2 breakaway but was unfortunately caught up in a crash caused by a stray dog that ran into the course.

Glad to see that he is OK and still in the race.

Read more about that accident here. And watch the video replay below.

Maciej Bodnar (Bora-Hansgrohe) is lining up at the starting ramp for his time trial. Watch for a strong performance from him today. He is one of the world's fastest time triallists and a five-time national champion of Poland.

Veljko Stojnic (Vini Zabu' KTM) just finished with a quick time. It looked as though he might beat Cobarrubia but he was 26 seconds off the pace. 

He is now sitting in second place behind Cobarrubia.

Bodnar is on his road bike set-up and looking very strong as he covers the flatter sections of the 15.5km course, before the final climb to the Punta Negra Dam. 

Pieter Serry (Deceuninck-QuickStep) has just crossed the finish line with the seventh fastest time.

Bodnar is approaching the intermediate time check and is on a slower pace than Cobarrubia.

Canadian time trial champion Rob Britton (Rally) has finished with a time of 21:13, and has slotted into second place behind Cobarrubia.

The current top 5:

American Gavin Mannion (Rally Cycling) has finished with a new fastest time of 20:59

Current top 5:

Argentina's Eduardo Sepulveda (Movistar Team) is on course, and one to watch for the time trial today and the overall classification.

Bodnar has just crossed the line with a new fastest time of 20:43, bumping Mannion down to second place.

Diego Camargo (Colombia-GW Bicicletas) has the finished in 21:22, good enough for fifth place.

Sepulveda is approaching the finish line but he was not as fast as Bodnar over the 15.5km course. The Argentinean finished 29 seconds slower in fourth place.

Current top 5

Nelson Oliveira (Movistar Team) just started his time trial, and also one to watch today as a former four-time national champion from Portugal.

Colin Joyce (Rally Cycling) just finished with the second-fastest time of 21:56, 13 seconds slower than Bodnar. 

Remco Evenepoel (Deceuninck-QuickStep) is on course. He is one of the fastest time triallists at this event. He was second in the time trial at the World Championships in Yorkshire, behind winner Rohan Dennis. He is one of the favourites to win today.

The Vuelta a San Juan hasn't start so well for him, however, as he crashed on the first stage. The crash was caused by a spectator with 3.5km to go. Officials awarded him and the other riders involved in the crash the same time as the stage winner.

The current top 5

Oliveira finished with the new fastest time of 20:41. That was enough to beat Bodnar by just two seconds.

Oscar Sevilla has just posted the fastest time of 21:24, bumping Oliveira down to second and Bodnar down to third.

Current top 5

Evenepoel is crossing over the dam at speeds of 51kph!

Remco Evenepoel is storming toward the finish line with a very fast time

Evenepoel has set the new fastest time of 19:16, and that will be very tough to beat.

New top 5

Remco Evenepoel (Deceuninck-QuickStep) currently has the fastest time of 19:16.

Filippo Ganna is now on course. He's racing for the Italian national team at the Vuelta a San Juan. 

Ganna secured the bronze medal in the time trial at the World Championships, behind winner Rohan Dennis and Evenepoel, who earned the silver medal.

Brandon McNulty (UAE Team Emirates) is another strong time triallist who just started stage 3. 

He's a former junior men's time trial world champion, and secured the bronze medal in the under-23 time trial at the Yorkshire World Championships last year.

Ganna is now crossing over the dam, also at 51kph.

Ganna has finished with a time of 19:48, not enough to beat Evenepoel, but the only other rider with a sub-20-minute time.

McNulty crossed the line with a time of 20:42, and moved into fifth place.

After the two opening sprint stages, many of the top sprinters are either on course now or just about to start their time trials.

Peter Sagan is roughly half way through his time trial and likely looking ahead to the next four stages (plus a rest day).

It looks like some turbulent weather is rolling in across the dam with flashes of lightening and dark clouds hovering over the mountainous backdrop.

The current top 10

The rain is coming down and the wind is gusty at the finish line alongside the Punta Negra Dam. 

Peter Sagan has just finished with a time of 24:43.

Fernando Gaviria (UAE Team Emirates) is the last rider on course, as the stage 2 winner and overall leader. The leader's jersey will certainly change hands after this stage 3 time trial.

Nicolas Naranjo (Agrupacion Virgin de Fatima-Saddledrunk) has finished with a time of 25:12.

Still out on course in the pouring rain are Manuel Belletti (Androni Giocattoli-Sidermec), stage 1 winner Rudy Barbier (Israel Start-Up Nation) and stage 2 winner Fernando Gaviria (UAE Team Emirates).

Belletti and Barbier have finished their time trials and have rolled over to their team vehicles to get dry clothing.

Gaviria is coming to the finish line now.

Gaviria finishes with a time of 24:44.

It looks like officials have cancelled the podium ceremony due to the bad weather conditions.

Remco Evenepoel (Deceuninck-QuickStep) has won the stage 3 time trial and takes the overall lead at the Vuelta a San Juan.

Here are the top 10 results for the stage 3 time trial and the overall classification.

Thank you for following along with our live coverage of stage 3 at the Vuelta a San Juan. Join us tomorrow for stage 4's 185.8km race from Jachal to Valle Fertil.