Ivan Romeo takes stage 3 of O Gran Camino, Visma | Lease a Bike still waiting for yellow

Iván Romeo won the third stage of O Gran Camiño on Thursday afternoon. The Spanish champion of Movistar was the strongest and smartest from a select group of favourites. After slipping away from top favourites Adam Yates and Jørgen Nordhagen, he dropped his final fellow escapees heading towards the finish. Behind them, the Norwegian from Visma | Lease a Bike fell just short of taking the yellow jersey.

O Gran Camiño began with success for UAE Team Emirates-XRG. Julius Johansen won the opening time trial, but the Dane lost his leader's jersey again in the second stage. That was won by Carlos Canal of Movistar, but the Portuguese Rafael Reis took over the lead in the general classification.

Would he be able to defend his position in the third stage? It was a hilly route, with several obstacles in the finale in particular. Six men managed to get away in the early break. It was primarily the (pro-continental teams) that were active, but Xabier Isasa (Euskaltel-Euskadi) was the only pro-continental man in the breakaway.

He was accompanied by Carlos Miguel Salgueiro (Taviro / Crédito Agrícola), Fábio Costa (Feira dos Sofás - Boavista), Simão Lucas (Tavfer-Ovos Matinados-Mortágua) and the duo from Meridian Racing, Jacob Roy and Joshua Lebo. They provided the colour for what was a quiet start to the day. The elevation gain was still to come, and the peloton allowed the six to ride out a little.

But Movistar never lost control, especially when things went uphill, about 45 kilometres from the finish. The Spanish team set a formidable pace, with Romeo putting in an attack that would end the day for the escapees. UAE had a hard time following the move. Visma | Lease a Bike were also not in the best position, but they were able to stay in contact.

The work then fell to Adam Yates, who had to put in a proper effort on what appeared at first glance to be an insignificant climb. The big favourites looked at each other for a moment, after which George Bennett (NSN Cycling) rode away, together with Abel Balderstone (Caja Rural - Seguros RGA). Later, Romeo, Yates, Jørgen Nordhagen (Visma | LaB) and Alessandro Pinarello (NSN) bridged across.

Once back together, the group went into the descent together. The six riders were moving much faster than the chasing group, where UAE and Movistar also disrupted the chase. In a few intermediate sprints, the leaders fought a fierce battle for bonus seconds, but this also led to a split. Romeo, Pinarello and Balderstone took advantage of bickering between Nordhagen and Yates. Advantage, Romeo.

Bennett was on their wheel and didn't have to do anything. The gap grew to ten seconds, then to fifteen... By the time Yates and Nordhagen realised they now had to work together, it was too late. At the front, Romeo turned on the afterburners and powered away from his fellow escapees. He crossed the line solo, while Pinarello finished second.

It was initially decided that Romeo had fallen just short of taking yellow. The leader's jersey was given to Nordhagen of Visma | Lease a Bike, who happily sprayed the champagne on the podium.

But after a recalculation Pinarello was given the race lead. He is on the same time as the Nordhagen, but it was decided that he will start in yellow on Friday.

"That works in our favour, because now the ball is in NSN's court", sports director Robert Wagner said on their website. "Tomorrow’s stage is so gruelling that there will undoubtedly be a gap of several seconds. Jørgen is in a strong position and showed today that he can keep up with the best on the climb. That’s a good sign."

"In the final, it turned into a tactical battle between the leaders. At one point, three riders broke away, after which Yates and Jørgen exchanged glances for a fraction of a second. After that, it was man against man, and although Jørgen lost a few seconds to Pinarello, he gained a few on Yates. All in all, I don’t think it was such a bad day after all," concluded Wagner.