OFFICIAL Stage 3 Results

[Laurens De Jong]

Hello, Vuelta a España Gamers!

 

STAGE Grade: A-

 

I rate today’s stage a A-. If Mads Pedersen had won as expected, then we wouldn’t be talking about an A grade stage. But look at this podium: David Gaudu, Mads Pedersen, Jonas Vingegaard. Those three don’t appear on a podium every day. Two of the three, maybe, that would already be an A grade race then. But this? Let’s go to the race report to find out how that happened.

 

Route: 3/5         GC: 2/5             Tactics: 2/5       Sprint: 5/5         Surprises: 4/5

 

I don’t know how it happened! Yesterday, the Belgian commentators were certain that Gaudu was dropped, six-and-a-half kilometers from the finish. And then he came back to finish third.

 

That’s enough to doubt a lot of things. Were the commentators wrong? I checked the replay myself and it did look like Gaudu there, getting dropped. Then how did he get back? You normally don’t get dropped on a climb and then finish on the podium on the same climb. Sure, you can “ride your own tempo” but Gaudu had to pass seventy riders. I’m still not sure if it happened. Or how.

 

Today those same commentators doubled down on their observation. “Dropped yesterday, yet he’s still here,” they said.

 

Il suo nome è David Gaudu. How did he win? He had the right legs. He stayed with the lead riders after all the team work from Lidl-Trek and Visma-LeaseABike was done. The right legs and the right mindset.

 

I saw him there, in Vingegaard’s wheel, although I was in denial about it at the time. I also saw the gap behind him: Filippo Ganna was getting dropped. Ganna was probably working for Egan Bernal, but still: Gaudu was stronger than Ganna today.

 

Much is said about the importance of Gaudu’s move on the inside of Vingegaard and Pedersen in the final hairpin. It was a big move, but to me, the bigger move was just before then. He put in a huge effort to move past Giulio Ciccone to stay in Vingegaard’s wheel. Ciccone had dropped off Pedersen — for the win, one would assume. Without that move, there wouldn’t have been a move on the inside for Gaudu. Instead, he dropped Jordan Labrosse and Orluis Aular.

 

And then he kind of divebombed into that turn, surprising Vingegaard but the gap was there, and there was enough room for Vingegaard on the outside.

 

Did Pedersen make a mistake by taking that turn out-in-out instead of out-in-in? I don’t think so. I believe Gaudu was the stronger rider in the end. Had Pedersen pinched the exit of the corner, then Gaudu could have gone wide, with momentum, and beaten him that way.

 

The inside move let Gauda pass Vingegaard, but his legs let him pass Pedersen.

 

Cycling is a team sport. The entire day Lidl-Trek worked in accordance with their one mission: keep the peloton together, catch the breakaway, launch Pedersen. They did everything right. Amanuel Ghebregizabhier (a former focus rider for our game) was masterful in the run-up to the climb. Carlos Verona rode his legs off for the team, Julie Bernard did the same. And Ciccone could have gone for the win but instead raced for the team.

 

The mood in the Lidl-Trek team bus must have been funereal. It was nobody’s fault, not even Pedersen’s, but this is exactly what everyone had not been working for all day. There is crying in cycling, some of them may have cried in that bus today.

 

Who also cried was Axel Zingle. He did have to abandon after yesterday’s crash, but not without a final twist in the story: eighteen Team Visma-LeaseABike bikes were stolen from the team truck overnight. A combination of remaining bikes and bikes built  up from spare parts meant the team could start today. I wonder if Zingle would have had a bike. A lot of bad luck for Zingle and his team. But to make us all feel better: Visma shared their hotel with Movistar and Lidl-Trek, and mechanics from both teams helped the Visma riders prepare the bikes before the stage started.

 

Cycling is a teams sport!

 

Team Liz* picked Fabio Christen, and he’s in our one-team rider spotlight today. Christen is 23 years old, from Switzerland, and this is his first Grand Tour. His only two pro cycling wins happened this year: he won the one-day race La Vuelta à la Región de Murcia and stage in the Tour of Slovenia.

 

I don’t know if Team Liz has some insight that I’m not aware of, but this could turn out to be an inspired pick. He finished eleventh today. I assume his job was to help Tom Pidcock, but both were in the same mad dash for the finish. Pidcock finished 23^rd. Not Christen’s fault.

 

He won that race in Spain by surviving the climbs and then beating the likes of Aurélien Paret-Peintre, Lorenzo Fortunato, Nairo Quintana, and Isaac del Toro. The stage he won had a similar profile: stay in the lead group through the climbs, then win the sprint. Felix Großschartner was in that group.

 

Those are good wins for Fabio. There are signs on his resume that he can win a big race. We’ll keep an eye on him in the rest of the 2025 Vuelta a España.

 

Watch the final kilometer HERE.

Watch the official La Vuelta highlights HERE.

Watch the extended NBC Sports highlights HERE.

Read the TNT Sports report HERE.

 

It helped to have David Gaudu on your team today. Stage winners Team Hugo did: they get most points from the stage, most points from classifications, most points overall, and they move into first place. Team Amalia came second, lacking Mads Pedersen. They keep moving up the standings, now fourth.

 

Team Ansel completed the podium, with most riders in the Top-25 (nine). They’re still second, for the third day in a row, each time behind a different leader.

 

Team Charles and Team Josh were fourth and fifth, respectively. They were tied until the combativity award was announced: Sean Quinn, who is on Team Charles. Team Charles drop to third, Team Josh remain eighth.

 

Team Grace were sixth, they remain sixth overall as well. Then Team Dominic, in seventh today, as they continue to drop in the standings: now fifth. Team Samuel were closely behind in eighth, and they drop down to seventh overall.

 

There’s a little gap to Team Tadej in ninth, also their overall standings; and again to Team Liz in tenth, good enough to improve to twelfth overall.

 

Two more teams came in close together: Team Sylvia in eleventh, which drops them to thirteenth overall; and Team Will in twelfth, they still improve to tenth overall.

 

I think I’ll call a missed-the-boat for Team Sam, thirteenth today and now eleventh overall.

 

Tuesday’s race has an interesting profile. Two big category 2 climbs in the first half — then down the valley, down down down until it’s flat. Who does that suit?

 

Tongue-in-cheek I say: Fabio Christen. Stay with the leaders over the climbs, then beat them in the sprint. Christen isn’t on anyone else’s bingo card, so I can’t say I believe that. So who else? Although the profile is very different from today’s stage, the favorites are similar. Mads Pedersen is probably the favorite, especially if the team can turn today’s disappointment into tomorrow’s motivation. I see Ben Turner or Jake Stewart up there as well. But if the pace is low, it could just be another Jasper Philipsen kind of day.

 

Standings after stage 3:

Rank	Name	Points	WAS	MOVES
1	Team Hugo*	624	4	3
2	Team Ansel*	587	2	0
3	Team Charles*	584	1	-2
4	Team Dominic*	567	2	-2
5	Team Amalia*	566	7	2
6	Team Grace*	561	6	0
7	Team Samuel*	551	5	-2
8	Team Josh*	530	8	0
9	Team Tadej*	478	9	0
10	Team Will*	369	11	1
11	Team Sam*	361	10	-1
12	Team Liz*	329	13	1
13	Team Sylvia*	327	12	-1

 

Standings after stage 3 (including adults):

 

Rank	Name	Points	WAS	MOVES
1	Team Feng	633	1	0
2	Team Hugo*	624	8	6
3	Team Adam	613	3	0
4	Team Corsa	603	5	1
5	Team Kari	599	3	-2
6	Team Ansel*	587	6	0
7	Team Charles*	584	2	-5
8	Team Craig	583	11	3
9	Team Dominic*	567	6	-3
10	Team Amalia*	566	13	3
11	Team Grace*	561	10	-1
12	Team Chuck	552	15	3
13	Team Samuel*	551	9	-4
14	Team Kent	545	12	-2
15	Team Josh*	530	16	1
16	Team Mitchinson	515	14	-2
17	Team Laurens	513	19	2
18	Team Joe	503	26	8
19	Team Amelia	492	21	2
20	Team Rob	489	19	-1
21	Team Corey	484	25	4
22	Team Tadej*	478	22	0
23	Team Wes	474	18	-5
24	Team John	469	17	-7
25	Team Jonwaine	460	24	-1
26	Team Julie	426	23	-3
27	Team JB	391	27	0
28	Team Doug	378	29	1
29	Team Will*	369	30	1
30	Team Sam*	361	28	-2
31	Team Liz*	329	32	1
32	Team Sylvia*	327	31	-1
33	Team Kate	181	33	0

 

Complete breakdown of points from stage 3:

 

Name	STAGE RESULTS	PINK JERSEY	PURPLE JERSEY	BLUE JERSEY	WHITE JERSEY	POINTS/CLASS	TOTAL	PREVIOUS	CUM. TOTAL
Team Amalia*	132	47	14	9	2	72	204	362	566
Team Ansel*	131	42	12	6	9	69	200	387	587
Team Charles*	124	41	12	6	7	66	190	394	584
Team Dominic*	117	38	12	6	7	63	180	387	567
Team Grace*	111	43	14	9	5	71	182	379	561
Team Hugo*	159	50	15	9	5	79	238	386	624
Team Josh*	124	41	12	6	5	64	188	342	530
Team Liz*	103	19	6	4	5	34	137	192	329
Team Sam*	66	21	8	4	5	38	104	257	361
Team Samuel*	117	33	11	7	0	51	168	383	551
Team Sylvia*	77	26	8	7	5	46	123	204	327
Team Tadej*	103	28	12	6	8	54	157	321	478
Team Will*	70	33	5	4	5	47	117	252	369

 

Complete breakdown of points from stage 3 (including adults):

 

Name	STAGE RESULTS	PINK JERSEY	PURPLE JERSEY	BLUE JERSEY	WHITE JERSEY	POINTS/CLASS	TOTAL	PREVIOUS	CUM. TOTAL
Team Adam	141	51	14	9	7	81	222	391	613
Team Amalia*	132	47	14	9	2	72	204	362	566
Team Amelia	106	31	12	6	11	60	166	326	492
Team Ansel*	131	42	12	6	9	69	200	387	587
Team Charles*	124	41	12	6	7	66	190	394	584
Team Chuck	135	42	11	7	7	67	202	350	552
Team Corey	114	41	9	6	5	61	175	309	484
Team Corsa	141	43	15	9	5	72	213	390	603
Team Craig	143	45	12	6	8	71	214	369	583
Team Dominic*	117	38	12	6	7	63	180	387	567
Team Doug	84	26	8	4	0	38	122	256	378
Team Feng	144	46	12	6	9	73	217	416	633
Team Grace*	111	43	14	9	5	71	182	379	561
Team Hugo*	159	50	15	9	5	79	238	386	624
Team JB	76	32	9	6	0	47	123	268	391
Team Joe	141	34	15	9	0	58	199	304	503
Team John	84	28	8	4	5	45	129	340	469
Team Josh*	124	41	12	6	5	64	188	342	530
Team Julie	79	18	8	4	3	33	112	314	426
Team Kari	138	41	12	7	8	70	208	391	599
Team Kate	67	14	0	1	0	17	84	97	181
Team Kent	117	38	12	6	8	64	181	364	545
Team Laurens	124	34	12	6	7	59	183	330	513
Team Liz*	103	19	6	4	5	34	137	192	329
Team Mitchinson	106	34	12	6	5	57	163	352	515
Team Rob	105	30	12	6	6	54	159	330	489
Team Sam*	66	21	8	4	5	38	104	257	361
Team Samuel*	117	33	11	7	0	51	168	383	551
Team Sylvia*	77	26	8	7	5	46	123	204	327
Team Tadej*	103	28	12	6	8	54	157	321	478
Team Wes	78	36	11	6	5	58	136	338	474
Team Will*	70	33	5	4	5	47	117	252	369
Team Jonwaine	100	33	8	4	5	50	150	310	460

 

¡Viva la Vuelta!

 

-Laurens.