Regardless of crashing yesterday and being in some ache, Cian Uijtdebroeks took to the beginning as we speak and continues to be racing. The Movistar rider is a key climbing domestique for Enric Mas, and even a darkish horse for GC himself, however should dig deep and combat by means of the ache to keep away from dropping numerous time as we speak.
The six riders up the highway, whose lead has grown to 2:40.
As you may see, there aren’t any rips in Ethan Hayter’s shorts, in contrast to yesterday. That unusual sartorial alternative was defined by the Brit after the stage yesterday.
‚It was chopping the blood from my legs‘ – Ethan Hayter takes scissors to his inexperienced skinsuit in mid-stage equipment modification at Vuelta a España
150KM TO GO
The break’s lead is being stored held regular, at 2:10.
That is sufficient to make Ethan Hayter (pictured right here in inexperienced at first of the day) the digital chief on GC, however they may want much more time to face an opportunity of holding off the peloton on the ultimate climbs later.
Tadej Pogačar’s UAE crew have taken management of the peloton, in defence of his crimson jersey. And are retaining the hole at two minutes. This isn’t the tempo of a crew in search of to mortgage out the crimson jersey to a different rider – and regardless, not one of the riders within the break are prone to be robust sufficient climbers to carry off the peloton even when they got an enormous lead.
Of the 6 riders within the break, Hayter is the one man with 1:40 of Pogačar on GC, at 29 seconds.
1:30 now for the break forward of the peloton, which seems content material to let this group go. There’s one poursuivant, Milan Vader (Bahrain Victorious), who’s attempting to hitch the sextet, however he’s drifting backwards and appears set to be caught.
Though it finishes with a few climbs, all the first two thirds of the stage is flat,, which explains the make-up of the break.
Ethan Hayter is within the motion once more! A 6-man group has received up the highway and has a lead of virtually a minute. May this be the break of the day already?
Additionally with the Brit are Mats Wenzel (Equipo Kern Pharma), Timo Roosen (Picnic PostNL), Asbjørn Hellemose (Jayco-AlUla), Olivier Le Gac (Groupama-FDJ) and Magnus Cort (Uno-X Mobility).
OFFICIAL START
They usually’re off!
Listed here are each the stage winners thus far at first, Tadej Pogačar and Matthew Brennan, sandwiching Ethan Hayter, who has been pissed off in his makes an attempt to swap the inexperienced jersey he is carrying for the crimson.
The riders are on the transfer in Gruissan for the unofficial begin, and are ready for the flag to suggest racing has begun.
Yesterday, Matthew Brennan claimed a sensational dash victory on simply his second day of Grand Tour racing, suggesting that he might be one of many stars of this Vuelta. However with such a tricky finale, as we speak definitely will not be a stage for him, because the climbers come to the fore as a substitute.
Vuelta a España: Highly effective dash nets Matthew Brennan stage 2 victory as Tadej Pogačar fends off assaults to maintain chief’s jersey
After all, the person we’re all anticipating to be going greatest is Tadej Pogačar, particularly following his victory on the stage one time trial. He’s within the crimson jersey, and will look to increase his lead as we speak – and presumably go for an additional stage win, too.
The Vuelta wouldn’t be the Vuelta with out an early uphill end, and this yr the riders have solely needed to wait till day three for the primary. This stage climaxes with a double-header of the class one Col de Mon-Louis, adopted by an uphill end to the class two summit Font Romeu.
They’re removed from the toughest challenges the riders will face this race, but it surely needs to be sufficient to attract the GC riders right into a combat and provides us a transparent signal of who’s going the perfect.
Vuelta a España 2026 stage 3 preview – Peloton heads to the Pyrenees in what may see a GC reshuffle
Hey and welcome to stage three of the Vuelta a España!
