David Gaudu produced an excellent dash to win the uphill end on the third stage of the Vuelta a Espana as Jonas Vingegaard retained the general lead.
It was the third Vuelta stage win of the 28-year-old Frenchman’s profession, and his first since 2020.
Gaudu, who was third on Sunday, outfoxed his rivals on the ultimate nook to complete simply in entrance of Danish pair Mads Pedersen and Vingegaard.
Groupama-FDJ rider Gaudu took an excellent inside line on the tight bend and had the punch to out-drag Pedersen within the ultimate 50 metres, with Vingegaard unable to match them.
Vingegaard collected a four-second bonus for ending third and though Gaudu earned 10 seconds for successful and has moved stage on time with the Dane, the two-time Tour de France champion retained the general lead on count-back of the ending locations to this point.
Pedersen had been strongly fancied for the 134.6km stage from San Maurizio Canavese to Ceres and Gaudu acknowledged it was a shock to beat the Lidl-Trek man.
“It was a shock, sure, as a result of I used to be pondering on the bus this morning the end was extra for Pedersen, however they mentioned I might win in the present day,” Gaudu mentioned.
“The crew did a really superb job and I am very very proud to win for me and for the crew. That is the very best starting of the Vuelta.”
Nice Britain’s Tom Pidcock completed twenty third and stays fifth within the normal classification.
Tuesday’s stage, a 206.7km medium mountain route from Susa to Voiron, is the final of 4 levels in Italy earlier than the Vuelta heads to Spain.
Earlier than stage three, Vinegaard’s Visma-Lease a Bike crew mentioned that they had had “a number of bikes stolen in a single day” from their mechanics’ truck and that police had “launched an investigation” into the incident.
About the Author
