After the setback yesterday BORA – hansgrohe was absolutely ready to fight back today. A 12-men-break was controlled mostly from Ineos and EF until the last 16km long climb to the finish line on the Passo San Valentino. At the bottom of the climb BORA – hansgrohe took control immediately and especially Matteo Fabbro and Patrick Konrad ripped the bunch into pieces. With 5km remaining the group of favorites was down to 20 riders and Lennard Kämna made his move. He was joined by J. Cepeda und both overtook the last remaining breakaway riders soon while in the back T. Geoghegan Hart also attacked. In the end Kämna was able to drop Cepeda with 700m to go to take a superb victory while Aleks Vlasov sprinted passed Cepeda from the group of favorites to take a BORA – hansgrohe 1 & 2. Kämna and Vlasov also moved up to 6th and 7th place in GC.
Results
01 L. Kämna 4:06:13
02 A. Vlasov +0:04
03 J. Cepeda +0:04
From the finish line
“Looks like stage 3 is always good for me here as I already took it last year. I knew that I had to go early as I still miss the explosiveness to follow the hard attacks in the final. I attacked quite early and was able to ride a good speed. Of course, Cepeda worked a lot when he joined me in the front and I was able to save some energy. On the last kilometer I gave it my all and I am super happy with this victory. The team did an amazing job and I have to thank them a lot.” – Lennard Kämna
“After the setback yesterday this victory tastes even sweeter. We took a conservative approach today in the beginning and didn’t want to place a rider in the break. Florian helped to control in the flat and Max did a great lead-out into the last climb. Then Matteo and Patrick pushed the pace as we wanted to make everyone tired to kill a little their explosiveness. Lenni proved again his race instinct and attacked at the right moment to finish off a real team effort. Also Aleks was really strong and took second. So, a perfect team, a perfect day and an impressive 1 & 2 in the end.” – Christian Pömer, Sports Director