No friends made, but young August (INEOS) keeps his cool and outsmarts his breakaway companions in Valencia

A sprint stage and a time trial — that’s what the riders were served in the first two stages of the Tour of Valencia. Remco Evenepoel, as expected, took the win in the time trial, but due to strong winds no time gaps were recorded after the stage. A blow for the Belgian — but would he be able to respond on Friday?

Stage 3 was a fairly tricky, hilly day, with the key part of the stage concentrated in the finale. The first 100 kilometres were almost entirely flat, and that’s where a group of eight managed to get away. Among them were Raúl García Pierna (Movistar), Mattia Bais (Polti VisitMalta), Diego Uriarte (Equipo Kern Pharma) and Dutch-Polish rider Danny van der Tuuk (Euskaltel). They built a lead of around four minutes.

But once the road started to rise, the gap began to shrink quickly. INEOS Grenadiers and Red Bull–BORA–hansgrohe lifted the pace in the peloton. Would we see an attack? The climb wasn’t particularly steep and it was still a long way from the finish, so an Evenepoel acceleration never came. Up front, with García Pierna and Bais looking the strongest, the leaders hung on a little longer.

It had been a fairly calm stage, until it was suddenly disrupted by a nasty crash. Brandon McNulty (UAE Team Emirates–XRG) and Cian Uijtdebroeks (Movistar) were among those involved, but Giovanni Aleotti (Red Bull–BORA–hansgrohe) appeared worst off. He was able to continue, though clearly battered. The leaders kept battling on, with the peloton not far behind.

They were caught with 28 kilometres to go, and then McNulty launched an attack. Evenepoel responded immediately and went straight over the top. Iván Romeo, just like earlier on Mallorca, jumped straight onto the Belgian’s wheel, but it wasn’t easy — and the following descent offered no real organisation behind.

Evenepoel couldn’t get away, but a little later four strong riders did manage to open a gap. They were Florian Vermeersch (UAE Team Emirates–XRG), Andrew August (INEOS Grenadiers), Jonathan Vervenne (Soudal Quick-Step) and Adne Holter (Uno-X Mobility). The thinned-out peloton — with Biniam Girmay still in it — had a tough time bringing that quartet back.

Up front, only three riders were really taking turns: August sat on the back and refused to contribute. Even so, the leaders were able to stretch their advantage to 25 seconds. NSN Cycling tried to build a sprint train behind, but they seemed to be running out of road. Could the break hold on?

That “cursed” August still kept his nerve, even as the peloton drew closer and closer. Under the flamme rouge, the front group still had the advantage — but they also started to play games. Vervenne cracked and ended up ruining his own chances, and in the end it was August who took the win. Holter finished second, but he did take over the leader’s jersey.