April 16, 2026
The profile for Stage 3 from Carballo to Padrón looks very similar to yesterday's race albeit 20 km longer. There is a bit of a climb out of the gate as the riders set out due South towards the Peninsula de Morrazo. The first real difficulty comes with 45 km to go at the start of the Alto Pico Muralla, the only categorized climb on the stage. The Muralla is 10.7 km long but averages less than 4% and crests with 34 km to go. There is one little hill at the bottom of the descent that last 1,500 meters but, again, is only about 5%. Three bonus sprints are packed in between 19 km and 15 km to go with seconds on offer which could spice up the finale. The last 13 km are flat to the finish with the last turn coming just inside 2 km to go. The group contesting the win should be similar to yesterday and will be the last opportunity for any non-climber to earn individual glory this week.
Race Summary
The sun doesn't shine often in Galicia until peak Summer but the riders set off from Carballo under beautiful bright skies. Six riders got away and built a maximum advantage of 3 minutes but with 75 km remaining, their lead was trimmed to 2 minutes 20 seconds under pressure from Movistar and Anicolor-Campicarn leading the peloton. The break was comprised of Xabier Isasa of Euskatel-Euskadi, Carlos Miguel Salgueiro of Tavira-Crédito Agrícola, Joshua Lebo and Jacob Roy of Meridian Racing, Fábio Costa of Feira dos Sofás-Boavista, and Simão Lucas of Tavfer-Ovos Matinados-Mortágua. The break had picked up speed and built some momentum and with 58 km to go as they rode through Escarabote and passed the vast shallow water fish farms, they had managed to increase their advantage back to around 3 minutes.
The bunch started to organize in color order with 50 km to go. The race to the bottom of the climb was fierce and the gap tumbled to under 1 minute 15 seconds by the time the break turned onto the climb with 44 km to go. The first move in the came from Iván Romeo of Movistar who half attacked, half went to the front to set a hard pace. Whatever his intention was, he was successful in stringing out the peloton and making life very difficult.
Little gaps started to form and a group of six emerged at the front. When Romeo pulled off, the pace was resumed by Adam Yates of UAE-XRG with George Bennett and Alessandro Pinarello of NSN Cycling, Jørgen Nordhagen of Visma-Lease a Bike, and Abel Balderstone of Caja Rural-Seguros RGA. The last of the break were caught with 6 km still to climb but the pace slowed after Yates swung off and there was a moment of hesitation. Salgueiro found the strength to attack again and Bennett followed.
With 4.5 km to climb, Salgueiro was dropped by Bennett just as the Kiwi got company from Balderstone who had bridged up. A chase group formed with the familiar names of Romeo, Yates, Nordhagen, and Pinarello with at least 25 riders in group three not far down the road. The Yates group made contact with Bennett and Balderstone with 3 km to climb and they worked surpsingly well together to the top. When they started the descent, they had 40 seconds on the chase group which was still large and being led by Burgos-Burpellet BH.
The leaders extended their gap to 43 seconds with 20 km to go, just 1 km before the first of the bonus sprints. Pinarello and Bennett took first and second with Nordhagen sweeping the final second at the first sprint. They kept the speed quick on the climb to the second sprint but it was more cagey. Yates tried a move but was too early. Bennett came over the top and led out the sprint but Nordhagen pipped him with Yates following for third. The group split when Yates and Nordhagen were arguing about taking pulls after the second sprint and Balderstone, Romeo, and Pinarello went clear forward. Pinarello snagged the 3 seconds at the last sprint with Romeo then Balderstone behind. The Yates group was 9 seconds down as the road tipped downhill heading into Padrón.
Over a little rise in the road with 10 km to go, Romeo, squeezed the accelerator and opened the smallest gap to Pinarello and Balderstone. Pinarello lost the slip steam and was fighting to get back on terms but Romeo was unrelenting with his effort and the gap widened one meter at a time. Balderstone tried to pull with Pinarello but he looked cooked and the gap was growing. 1,500 meters later, the gap was nearly 10 seconds with Yates and company drifting out to 25 seconds. The pursuit continued into the streets of Padrón but no one was able to wrangle any time back on Romeo who crossed the line to take the second win for Movistar in as many days. Pinarello beat Balderstone in the sprint for second, 15 seconds down on Romeo. 10 more seconds ticked off the clock by the time Bennett came in, leading Yates and Nordhagen.
The GC got quite the reshuffle, maybe more than expected on such a day. Pinarello took over the race lead and sits even on time with Nordhagen. Nelson Oliveira is sitting in third at 12 seconds, courtesy of the stellar ITT he put in on day one. Yates is in fourth at 16 seconds, Balderstone at 19 seconds, and Romeo at 29 seconds.