Gaudu wins Vuelta a Espana’s third stage as Vingegaard retains red jersey

Frenchman David Gaudu of team Groupama-FDJ outwitted his rivals on the late hairpin turns to win stage three of the Vuelta a Espana on Monday, as Jonas Vingegaard came third to retain the overall lead.

Gaudu, who was third on Sunday, finished ahead of Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek) to climb to second place in the general classification, 14 seconds behind two-time Tour de France champion Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike).

“I was thinking in the bus this morning it was more for Pedersen, but (teammate Stefan) Kung said to me I have a punch and I can win today,” Gaudu said after his first Vuelta stage win since 2020.

“I’m very happy. I’m very, very proud to win for me, for the team. This is, I think, the best start to the Vuelta we could get.”

Pedersen’s teammate Giulio Ciccone finished fourth and was third overall at the end of the first medium-mountain stage of the race, a 139km ride from San Maurizio Canavese to Ceres in Italy.

The riders made a fast start, covering 45.8km in the first hour as Sean Quinn, Luva Van Boven, Patrick Gamper and Alessandro Verre formed a leading pack.

Lidl-Trek’s riders stayed in front of the peloton for most of the race, controlling the chase as only Verre and Quinn remained in the breakaway pack during the first big climb of the stage to Issiglio.

Quinn (EF Education-EasyPost) made a push to become the sole leader with around 39km to go, as Harold Martin Lopez (XDS Astana) and Jardi van der Lee (EF Education-EasyPost) crashed during a turn but got back up immediately.

The peloton sprinted to catch Quinn during a descent, and the American lost his lead with 19km left.

Several teams jostled to control the front of the peloton until Lidl-Trek and Ineos Grenadiers positioned themselves in the lead going into the last kilometre.

Gaudu made his move in the final hairpin bends, gaining on his opponents and getting to the front after the last turn just 50 metres from the finish.

“When I (saw) Pedersen launching the sprint... I (disconnected) totally on the last corner and pushed all my limits to the finish line,” Gaudu said.

Vingegaard rose to the top of the points classification after green jersey holder Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Deceuninck) struggled to keep up with the peloton.

Jorge Arcas (Movistar) and Axel Zingle (Visma-Lease a Bike) did not start the stage after crashing in wet conditions on Sunday.

The race continues on Tuesday with a 192km ride from Italy’s Susa to Voiron in France.

Reuters