After a freezing cold stage with echelons, Kooij wins in Tirreno: All-Dutch Podium with Van der Poel and Pluimers

The third stage of the Tirreno-Adriatico, won by Andrea Vendrame, was very difficult. This was partly due to the long distance and the hilly final phase but mainly due to the terrible weather. It was cold and very wet. On Thursday, it did not look good for the riders either because, once again, they had to appear at the start wearing warm clothing. It would be a tough day, with all the meters of elevation in the opening phase, strong wind, and cold.

It would also mean that there would be a battle. Five men could break away after a nervous opening phase, where the pace was extremely high. They were Jonas Rutsch (Intermarché-Wanty), Jorge Arcas (Movistar), Mirco Maestri (Polti VisitMalta), William Blume Levy (Uno-X Mobility) and Gijs Leemreize (Picnic-PostNL). They managed to build up a nice lead, but the pace picked up once halfway through the race. The Valico La Crocetta lay ahead, a 12.4-kilometer climb at 5.6%. That's where UAE Team Emirates-XRG rose to the challenge.

It meant that Dylan Groenewegen and Jonathan Milan, who had crashed hard yesterday and had not yet recovered, had no hope of winning the stage. Other sprinters also had difficulty, but no real damage was done. That only happened after the summit. The riders reached an open plateau where echelons were created. The first splits occurred: about 35 riders broke away from the rest of the peloton. The riders who were not among them were Olav Kooij, Paul Magnier, Mikel Landa, and Derek Gee...

They had to chase and came close—but not close enough. At about 45 kilometers, UAE Team Emirates and INEOS Grenadiers stirred things up again. Classification leader Filippo Ganna pushed hard, together with teammate Laurens De Plus. Felix Grossschartner, Isaac Del Toro, Juan Ayuso, and Groupama's lone rider, Quentin Pacher, joined him. The collaboration was good, and they closed the gap to the leading group. The rest of the peloton was forced to chase hard.

Reluctantly, they did so, and after a while of chasing, the group was caught. However, it did mean that Simon Yates was dropped from the front group: he had to join the chase. However, the leading group was still ahead. The cooperation of the strong five was still good. However, an unfortunate crash by Rutsch meant that only four of them could continue. The peloton was closing in with Yates, Landa, and co, and they had rejoined the group. It looked like it would come down to a sprint in the chaotic fourth stage.

That is until a small bump in the last five kilometers suddenly caused a Sanremo scenario. Van der Poel accelerated, but Ganna countered perfectly. Ben Healy then pulled onto the front runners, where Maestri and Blume Levy remained. There were few riders left in the peloton. Healy worked tirelessly to stay ahead, but Quick-Step brought everyone back together in the final meters. Magnier was the last man standing, but Kooij was the strongest in the final meters. Pluimers finished second, ahead of a combative Van der Poel.