After Pogacar’s supremacy in stage 2, more teams were interested in a spot in the breakaway. This made it a tough battle of more than an hour.
Ultimately, ten riders rode away, including Mauri Vansevenant, Juanpe Lopez and Hugh Carthy. They were not given much room to maneuver. Their maximum lead was one and a half minutes.
The leading group was already caught at the beginning of the penultimate col Port de Canto (out of category). Visma-Lease a Bike, the team of Cian Uijtdebroeks and Sepp Kuss, took care of the leading work.
A peloton of about 50 riders started at Port Ainé. That is a difficult climb of 18 kilometers at about 7% average. Soudal-Quick Step showed itself ambitious and took the lead. The young Belgian William Junior Lecerf, among others, showed himself in Landa’s service.
The Spaniard himself opened the debates, just over 7 kilometers from the finish. Only Tadej Pogacar could follow, and more than that. He crashed out of Landa’s wheel and left him behind.
Meters difference became seconds difference. Just like yesterday, there was nothing that could be done about Tadej Pogacar. He completed his solo without any problems to record his third victory in five days of racing.
Landa was briefly joined by the American Sepp Kuss and the Australian Chris Harper. Not much later, the Soudal rider rode away again. He finished second, 48 seconds behind Pogacar. The Italian Antonio Tiberi finished third.
Pogacar already has a big lead in the rankings. Landa is the first pursuer at 2’27”.
2024-03-20 15:28:25
#mountain #stage #number #Tadej #Pogacar #Tour #Catalonia
