Vuelta a Burgos 2025 Stage 3

August 7, 2025 The route is quite interesting today after the riders set off from the Monasterio de San Pedro de Cardeña. They head North through the Eastern suburbs of Burgos along rolling terrain for the first 115KM of the 184KM stage. A descent off the plateau into Cozuela brings the race to the foot of the Puerto de Ozeka (2.7KM at 8.6%) which marks the start of the finale of the stage with 54KM to go. 18KM later comes the Alto de las Campos which is 4KM long with the last 1.5KM at over 7%. A very short descent leads into the main feature on the stage, the Puerto de Orduña, an 8KM climb at over 7%. The top comes 22KM from the finish in Valpuesta, which might be too far for any one rider to go alone to the finish. Valpuesta is famous for being the place where it is believed the first words in Spanish were written. Sander de Pestel of Decathlon AG2R, Daniel Cavia of Burgos-Burpellet BH, Gorka Sorarrain of Caja Rural-Seguros RGA, Iker Mintegi of Euskatel-Euskadi, Hugo Aznar of Equipo Kern Pharma, and Mario Silva of Iles Balears Arabay got away after nearly an hour of racing. With 60KM to go, the break had 3 minutes on the peloton as they rode passed the extraordinary Sierra Salvada mountain formation. Race leaders, Redbull-Bora Hansgrohe were setting a hard pace along with UAE-XRG that started to put some riders out the back. The break arrived at the Puerto de Ozeka with 54KM to go and, with 1KM to the top, only de Pestel and Sorarrain were left at the front. Sorarrain led over the top with panoramic views across the edge of Castilla y León and into the Basque Country. The descent wasn't much more than a single car width and by the time they reached wider roads in Arespalditza with 46KM, they still had a good lead of 2 minutes 40 seconds. Lidl-Trek, Redbull-Bora Hansgrohe, EF-Education EasyPost, UAE-XRG, and Tudor Pro Cycling all were battling for position to start the Alto de las Campos at the front. The first move from the peloton came from Mikel Landa of Soudal Quickstep which caused a reaction from the other GC favorites. Ahead, Sorarrain took the mountains points at the top with de Pestel following but they were just 1 minute 20 seconds in front of Landa and 1 minute 45 seconds to the peloton. After a short descent and 3KM valley road, the leaders arrived at the base of the Puerto de Orduña. The Puerto de Orduña was a wide road that benefitted the peloton and the pace put on by Lidl-Trek brought Landa back with 5.5KM to climb. Around the same time, de Pestel dropped Sorarrain but Julien Bernard of Lidl-Trek was setting a hard pace and had de Pestel within 30 seconds. Temperatures were pushing 32C (90F) throughout the day and it started to take its toll. Fourth overall Jordan Labrosse of Decathlon AG2R and race leader Roger Adrià of Redbull-Bora Hansgrohe were both dropped with over 4KM to climb. A moment later, Giulio Ciccone of Lidl-Trek attacked and Léo Bisiaux of Decathlon AG2R was the only one to follow. They caught and passed de Pestel and started to get a gap on the rest of the GC favorites which numbered around 15 riders. The chase group completely split apart with 2KM to climb. Lorenzo Fortunato of XDS-Astana bridged up to Ciccone and Bisiaux with Giulio Pellizzari of Redbull-Bora Hansgrohe making contact right at the top with 22KM to go. The road dragged up for a bit after the KOM and Isaac del Toro of UAE-XRG was able to claw his way to the lead group to make five at the front as the descent began. A chase group of 12 riders formed with 14KM to go but they were already nearly 40 seconds behind the lead group. The chase got within 30 seconds but the leaders worked well together and the win would go to one of the five. Inside the final kilometer, collaboration was still fluid but with 900M to go, Ciccone skipped the first pull and the group started to look each other. Bisiaux attacked and there was no reaction. Bisiaux soloed to the win, his first as a professional at just 19 years old. Ciccone won the sprint for second ahead of Pellizzari, 9 seconds after Bisiaux crossed the line. Not only did Bisiaux win the stage, he also takes over the race lead and sits 22 seconds ahead of Pellizzari and 26 seconds to del Toro with two days remaining.