This Monday, August 19, the third stage of the Vuelta a España was run, the last day that had Portugal as protagonist, before moving to Iberian soil for the remaining stages. It is worth mentioning that the race, which started on Saturday, August 17, will run until September 8.
It is worth noting that, on this day, there was a little more complicated terrain compared to the first two stages, after a time trial and a calm windy day on Sunday that was won by Australian Kaden Groves. However, Wout van Aert took over the top spot in the overall standings from Brandon McNulty.
After leaving Lousa, the starting point in Portugal, the breakaway with Xabier Isasa, Luis Ángel Maté, Unai Iribar and Ibon Ruiz took hold. The escapees were already two minutes ahead of the peloton. Little by little, the gap increased to four minutes when they had already ridden more than fifty kilometers on the Portuguese streets.
The first second category mountain pass was for Luis Ángel Maté, who took confidence accompanied by Ibon Ruiz on the Alto de Teixeira. However, Maté was the winner of the climb and, in addition, he remained as the virtual leader of the mountain classification. For his part, Xabier Isasa took the intermediate sprint.
To further consolidate his position as mountain leader, Luis Ángel Maté crowned the second fourth-category pass of the 191.2-kilometer course in Alpedrinha. The Spaniards continued to propose attacks throughout the race and stood out, taking 52 seconds off the peloton.
With 13 kilometers to go, the peloton was looking to group with the Spanish escapees. They managed to close the gap, and as if that wasn’t enough, Pavel Bittner was Team DSM’s candidate to fight against the local Iberians in the Vuelta a España. The final sprint was very attractive with Victor Campanaerts as one of the candidates. He pressed the accelerator and went to the front looking to consolidate.
But, it was Wout van Aert who finally pressed the accelerator to take over the race on stage 3. Next to him, Kaden Groves, who won last day. The Belgian rider took the stage win and as if that wasn’t enough, he didn’t change in the general classification. He won with a time of 4:40’42¨.
This Tuesday the fourth stage of the Spanish round will be held in Iberian territory, starting in Plasencia and arriving at Pico Villuercas, on a route of 170.5 kilometers in mountainous terrain with the first high finish.
La Vuelta Ciclista a España (2.UWT)
Results Stage 3 | Lousã – Castelo Branco (191,2 km)
| 1 | Wout van Aert | Team Visma | Lease a Bike | 4:40:42 |
| 2 | Kaden Groves | Alpecin – Deceuninck | ,, |
| 3 | Jon Aberasturi | Euskaltel – Euskadi | ,, |
| 4 | Arne Marit | Intermarché – Wanty | ,, |
| 5 | Pavel Bittner | Team dsm-firmenich PostNL | ,, |
| 6 | Corbin Strong | Israel – Premier Tech | ,, |
| 7 | Arjen Livyns | Lotto Dstny | ,, |
| 8 | Bryan Coquard | Cofidis | ,, |
| 9 | Antonio Jesús Soto | Equipo Kern Pharma | ,, |
| 10 | Carlos Canal | Movistar Team | ,, |
Ranking General
| 1 | Wout van Aert | Team Visma | Lease a Bike | 10:05:59 |
| 2 | Brandon McNulty | UAE Team Emirates | 0:13 |
| 3 | Mathias Vacek | Lidl – Trek | 0:15 |
| 4 | Stefan Kung | Groupama – FDJ | 0:19 |
| 5 | Edoardo Affini | Team Visma | Lease a Bike | 0:21 |
| 6 | Mauro Schmid | Team Jayco AlUla | 0:29 |
| 7 | Primož Roglic | Red Bull – BORA – hansgrohe | 0:30 |
| 8 | Bruno Armirail | Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale Team | 0:31 |
| 9 | João Almeida | UAE Team Emirates | 0:32 |
| 10 | Nelson Oliveira | Movistar Team | 0:33 |
Source: Agencias de Prensa y Revista Mundo Ciclístico