La Vuelta Ciclista a España 2025 Stage 3

August 25, 2025 So far, we have seen a pure bunch sprint and a mountain top finish and Stage 3 could be one for the guys in between. It's a short stage at just 134KM from San Maurizio Canavese to Ceres. The first classified climb comes with 68KM to go with the intermediate sprint in Cuorgnè following 12KM later. The rest of the stage gently climbs and descends. There is nothing too hard but it could add just enough fatigue in the pure sprinters legs to make them think twice about staying in contact for the final climb to the finish which is 2.5KM and drags up around 3.5%. Predictions are that the Classics sprinters will shine like Mads Pedersen but if the race isn't ridden hard enough, the pure sprinters may still be hanging around but the GC guys will always be present. The second attack of the day was the one that stuck. Sean Quinn of EF-Education EasyPost, Patrick Gamper of Jayco AlUla, Luca Van Boven of Intermarché-Wanty, and Alessandro Verre of Arkéa-B&B Hotels got away and quickly established their advantage. Lidl-Trek went to the front with Daan Hoole and never let the gap go out any further than 90 seconds. The break started the Issiglio climb, a 5.8KM climb at over 6%, with 75KM to go and a 2 minute 30 second gap. Verre was keen to keep the pace up and with 4KM still to climb, only Quinn was still with the Italian. Verre rode the entire climb at the front and took the points at the top. Quinn led down the descent and into Cuorgnè to take maximum points at the intermediate sprint. Lidl-Trek were chasing quite hard because if Van Boven and Gamper were to be caught, more Green Jersey sprint points would potentially be available for Mads Pedersen. Gamper and Van Boven were indeed caught just 200M before the sprint and Pedersen was able to take third, moving him a bit closer to Jasper Philipsen for the Green Jersey. The gap was down to 1 minute and on one of the unclassified climbs with 39KM to go, Quinn left Verre behind and went off alone. Quinn's solo escapade was short lived and he was hauled back by Lidl-Trek with 19KM remaining. The familiar sight of sprint trains formed as they entered the Stura di Lanzo River valley passed the hilltop castle town of Germagnano. Lidl-Trek held their position at the front with Visma-Lease a Bike, Redbull-Bora Hansgrohe, UAE-XRG, and Lotto through 5KM to go. The speed was taking its toll and through the town of Pessinetto at 4KM to go, riders were dropping in threes and fours. The peloton arrived at the classified part of the climb up to Ceres and the horsepower of Visma-Lease a Bike strung out the bunch. The climb started to get more twisting with tighter and tighter hairpins going under 1KM. Lidl-Trek and Visma-Lease a Bike were battling for every corner and sprinting just to hold their position. Meanwhile further back, gaps were starting to form down the group. Mads Pedersen hit the front with 150M to go and took the final turn first but David Gaudu of Groupama-FDJ came through on the inside and showed his form once again by accelerating out of the corner and putting the sword to Pedersen. Gaudu took the victory, arms stretched high in jubilation with the bowing figure of Pedersen at his side. Jonas Vingegaard of Visma-Lease a Bike finished third by a bike length to Pedersen. In the end, all of the gaps were sealed up and 70 riders finished on the same time. With the bonus seconds factored in, Gaudu moves into second overall on the same time as Vingegaard. Since half of the bunch finished on the same time, there were no other changes in GC except for riders swapping positions due to count back.