April 22, 2026
The days are getting longer and harder. Stage three sets off from Latsch for a 174 km Southward journey that totals over 3,500 meters of climbing. The first test of the day is a brute. The Hofmahdjoch is 22 km long at 5.7%. It goes up in two steps, the first is 6.5 km at 7.5% with the harder second half at 7 km long and just over 9%. The top comes just 50 km into the race however so it should not be major a factor but it will serve to drain the energy reserves. A long descent follows to the base of Andalo, a 14 km climb at 5%. There is a sprint point at the bottom of the descent in Ponte Arche before the 9 km, 4% Passo Ballino. The final climb of the day is the Ville del Monte, a 4.4 km rise at 4.4%. The riders will crest the Ville del Monte with 16 km to go and have a 6 km flat run in to Arco where a reduced GC group will likely contest the stage win.
Race Summary
Another stunning weather day greeted the riders at sign-on. Not everyone was in a bright mood because moments after the neutral zone, there was a large crash from a touch of wheels right near the front, and riders went down like skittles . The race was neutralized to assess the needs of the riders and in the end, eight were forced to abandon as a result. Those riders were Lorenzo Finn of Redbull-Bora Hansgrohe, Victor Langellotti of Ineos, Felix Engelhardt of Jayco AlUla, Ulrik Tvedt of Picnic-PostNL, Lorenzo Nespoli of MBH Bank CSB Telecom Fort, Manabu Ishibashi of Team UKYO, Daniel Federspiel of the Austrian National Team, and Damien Howson of Pinarello Q36. The second attempt at the race start was more successful but only Sam Oomen of Lidl-Trek and Darren Rafferty of EF-Education EasyPost managed to get away. When we got to see live pictures, the two leaders had just started the climb to Andalo with 78.5 km remaining and were 2 minutes 20 seconds up on the Redbull-Bora Hansgrohe led peloton.
The slopes of Andalo were covered in terraced rows of grape vines that produce Pinot Grigio, Chardonnay, and Müller-Thurgau. As spectacular as the scenery was, there was very little action on the climb. About 1,500 meters from the top of Andalo, Chris Juul Jensen of Jayco AlUla nipped off the front of the peloton and went in search of the two leaders who were 1 minute 45 seconds up the road. Juul Jensen got out to 25 seconds ahead of the peloton as he rode passed the Lago Molveno but that was as far as he would go. Pinarello Q36.5 put a man on the front of the bunch to increase the speed which brought Juul Jensen back with 42 km to go.
Oomen led through the sprint point in Ponte Arche with a lead of 1 minute 35 seconds and immediately hit the lower slopes of the Passo Ballino. The shallow climb offered no real action and by the top with 29 km to go, Rafferty and Oomen had retained all of their 95 second lead. The descent was to be more technical than the wide road they just climbed which brought the main GC teams forward to position for the downhill.
Pinarello Q36.5 pinned the descent and cut the gap to 50 seconds by the time the leaders reached Ville del Monte and the final climb. This road was far more narrow and Redbull-Bora Hansgrohe resumed their pace when the peloton started the climb. The road wound its way up through the village of Tenno which offered a commanding view of the valley and the Lago di Garda below. The day was far less selective than imagined and the bunch was still large with 1,500 meters to climb. Juan Felipe Rodriguez of EF-Education EasyPost leapt from the peloton a few hundred meters from the top but no one went with him and Redbull-Bora Hansgrohe just continued their pace without much panic. Rafferty led through the bonus sprint with Oomen in second and Rodriguez snagging the last 2 available seconds on offer.
Oomen and Rafferty's gap was down to 25 seconds on the peloton who had pulled in Rodriguez by the time the descent began with 14.5 km to go. There were at least 50 riders who went over the top together in the peloton with Pinarello Q36.5 taking the lead on the downhill. There were a number of pinch points on the descent as the road squeezed through little villages and twisted down the mountain which caused stress on the group. There was a crash that took down a few riders including Alessandro Verre of MBH Bank CSB Telecom Fort but he was able to continue.
With 8 km to go, Tom Pidcock of Pinarello Q36.5 took up the lead on the descent and the group started to stretch thin. The last of the corners were taken and the bunch reached the flat run in with 6 km to go. The two leaders had about 10 seconds at this point but Pinarello Q36.5 still had numbers and they were pulling hard to close the gap. The connection was made with 4 km to go and a sprint of around 45 riders was looking like the likely scenario. The group stalled with 3 km to go which offered an attacking opportunity. Ben O'Connor of Jayco AlUla sent a flyer, Pidcock covered and they were brought back.
Tudor Pro Cycling put an end to the attacking by taking control of the front. They continued leading in the last few kilometers with everyone else fighting for the back of their train. Pidcock was sitting in about fifth wheel with 300 meters to go. He sprinted forward to take the lead through the final corner at 175 meters to go with Egan Bernal of Ineos following directly behind. Pidcock opened up out of the corner and put a good gap into Bernal but day one winner Tommaso Dati of Team UKYO was quick to fill the void. Pidcock looked back a few times in the closing meters but Dati was unable to get out of the slip stream. The Brit came across the line with raised arms to take his third win of the season. Dati was behind in second with Bernal showing good form and hanging on for third place.
With the bonus seconds on the line factored in, Bernal moved up to third overall but the main contenders are all where they were at the start of the day.