Stronger in the last decameters, the German Phil Bauhaus (Bahrain Victorious) won the 3rd stage of Tirreno-Adriatico in a sprint, Wednesday in Gualdo Tadino (Italy), marked by a fall in the last curve of the Belgian Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Deceuninck) impressive winner the day before.
Bauhaus, who signs his second success in the “Course des deux mers” after his victory during the 7th stage of the 2022 edition, beat the Italian Jonathan Milan (Lidl-Trek) on the line. Frenchman Kévin Vauquelin (Arkéa B
The Spaniard Juan Ayuso (UAE), winner of the inaugural time trial on Monday, remains at the top of the general classification with one second ahead of the Italian Filippo Ganna.
“The day was difficult, the weather conditions did not make things easy… I am more than happy to achieve my first victory of the season,” commented Bauhaus. In ambush to achieve a double, Jasper Philipsen fell in the last curve, an unfortunate actor in this eventful finale, just like the Cofidis riders, the Italian Stefano Oldani and the French Axel Zingle, who landed in the barriers.
Until then, this fourth stage had only been animated by the breakaway of the Swiss Jan Stöckli (Corratec-Vini Fantini) – already present in that of the day before – and the Italian Samuele Zoccarato (VF Group-Bardiani CSF- Faizanè), the duo up to 11 minutes ahead of the peloton, which ended up picking up the pace. In cool and rainy weather, Julian Alaphilippe (Soudal Quick-Step) was seen blowing on his fingers to warm them, when Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike), big favorite of the event, was losing time to close his raincoat with the help of a member of his staff. The Dane was finally able to rejoin the peloton with the help of a teammate.
Zoccarato, who had meanwhile unhooked his friend, was finally caught 21 km from the finish, when starting the main difficulty of the day, namely 5.9 km of ascent at 3.6% average to Casacastalda. A summit reached in the lead by the Ecuadorian Richard Carapaz (EF Education-EasyPost).
No attack was then launched as the goal approached, so much so that the race was settled as expected in the sprint, Bauhaus demonstrating his applied art of sprinting.