After a cold and wet day, Juan Pedro Lopez won after attacking with Giulio Pellizzari in Tour of the Alps stage 3, while INEOS’ GC leader Tobias Foss could not bring back the brave duo.
The Tour of the Alps parcours in the 2024 edition includes five days with climbs but none with a mountain top finish, which gives more opportunity for long range attacks, tactics, and low ᵉW/Kg performances. Lining up from the Top 10 betting favourites for the Giro d’Italia are Bardet, Tiberi, Thomas and O’Connor. Pogačar and Uijtdebroeks did Volta a Catalunya a month ago and are not doing any more stage races before Giro, while Caruso, Arensman and Ciccone will test their legs in the upcoming Tour de Romandie. Dani Martinez’ last race due was Tirreno-Adriatico, due to a knee problem.
With two loops with back to back Weerberg (3.2 km, 9.6%) and Pillberg (3.2 km, 10%) climbs, it was going to be a hard stage. Thanks to his Stage 1 victory from the first group, Tobias Foss was in the leader’s jersey, which he needed to defend.
On the first Pillberg ascent Romain Bardet attacked with 27km to go but was caught. Later on the climb, 20-year-old Giulio Pellizzari attacked and was joined by Juan Pedro Lopez. They both did only 6.15 ᵉW/Kg for 11:13 min, while the peloton lost 23 seconds with 5.90 ᵉW/Kg as Foss needed to bring them back but did not go too hard as there was a valley and two steep climbs still left in the stage.
Geraint Thomas paced the valley but did not catch the duo, who increased their lead to over 50 seconds before the final two climbs. With no help, Foss did 6.18 ᵉW/Kg for 11:15 min, while Pellizzari and Lopez lost 10 seconds with 6.10 ᵉW/Kg but had a 40-second lead at the top.
Anton Palzer before the final Pillberg ascent had spent 2,870 kilojoules for exactly 3 hours, which is 14.73 kj/kg/h. It was a high intensity race with cold and wet conditions, with temperatures on bike computers averaging 2°C in the last 30 km.
Juan Pedro Lopez was flying on the final climb and dropped Pellizzari, doing 6.43 ᵉW/Kg for 10:54 min. Pellizzari cracked and lost 38 seconds, doing 6.05 ᵉW/Kg. In the peloton Foss again was forced to pace and did 6.33 ᵉW/Kg for 11:01 min, but that was not enough to catch both attackers. Wout Poels attacked from the GC group but Foss pulled him back with his steady pace. If such a day occurs in the Giro, Tadej Pogačar would likely win with a huge solo and multiple minute lead over the struggling group of Giro GC hopefuls.
Juan Pedro Lopez won his first pro race, despite being in the lead for 10 stages in the 2022 Giro after losing to Lennard Kämna from a breakaway on Etna. Lopez also moved to first position in GC, finishing 38 seconds ahead of Foss who was the fastest from the bunch. It will be hard for Lidl-Trek to hold the lead in the last two stages against Foss, Bardet, Tiberi, O'Connor, Poels, Paret Paintre brothers and Pellizzari who will definitely attack.
Results powered by FirstCycling.com