Place Name: Avenida Zeca Afonso
Address: Avenida Zeca Afonso 7, 8800-441 Tavira, Faro, Portugal
Details: February 21, 2025
The race starts in Vila Real Santo António and heads inland, following the Guadiana River which is the natural border between Portugal and Spain. The route cuts West into the Algarve hills before swinging back South and East towards the coast for a finish in Tavira. Clouds and a touch of rain were present at the start but the sun came out for the flag at KM0.
Ten riders got away at the start but nine remained with 62KM to go. Local team Aviludo-Louletano-Loulé missed the break and were intent on scoring Mountains Points at Faz Fato with 45KM to go. They managed to bring it all back together with 54KM to go to reset the race. World Tour teams took control but German Nicolás Tivani did manage to get the points at the top for a job well done for Aviludo-Louletano-Loulé.
An Intermediate Sprint with bonus seconds on offer at 24KM to go and the potential for wind on the coast meant that the the World Tour teams got organized and started to drag race for position. Mathias Vacek of Lidl-Trek took maximum seconds at the Intermediate Sprint with Filippo Ganna and Sam Watson of Ineos taking second and third. A lull came over the bunch after the sprint but things livened back up with 8KM remaining when the full lead outs formed.
The speed was rapid under 2KM to go with Tudor Pro Cycling and Lotto being the best organized. Lotto took the final corner in the front at 400M to go but the slight uphill was too much for them to hold the speed. Casper Van Uden of Picnic-PostNL came around with a lot of momentum 200M from the line with Jordi Meeus of Redbull-Bora Hansgrohe and Alberto Dainese of Tudor Pro Cycling in tow. Meeus hit the front at just the right time and took the victory by half a bike length. Dainese was next, just beating Biniam Girmay of Intermarché-Wanty into third. After the stage, the race jury relegated Dainese for a dangerous sprint which moved Girmay to second, Arnaud De Lie of Lotto into third and Van Uden to fourth.
Tags: Volta ao Algarve em Bicicleta, 2025, February, Stage 3, Volta ao Algarve em Bicicleta 2025, Vila Real Santo António, Tavira, German Nicolás Tivani, Mathias Vacek, Filippo Ganna, Sam Watson, Casper Van Uden, Jordi Meeus, Alberto Dainese, Biniam Girmay, Arnaud De Lie