Tom Pidcock wins Tour of the Alps stage 3 with strong kick

Tom Pidcock won stage three of the Tour of the Alps on Wednesday. The Brit suffered on the final climb, but ultimately proved quickest in the sprint ahead of Tommaso Dati and Egan Bernal. Giulio Pellizzari retained his leader's jersey without difficulty.

On Tuesday, the peloton was treated to a fine mountain-top finish at Martell/Val Martello. Giulio Pellizzari took the win for a strong Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe and with it seized the leader's jersey from continental rider Tommaso Dati (Team UKYO). Thymen Arensman came through impressively in second.

Stage three also featured plenty of climbing. The finish this time, however, did not come at the top of a climb. The day's hardest ascent — the Passo Castrin (22.4 km at 5.7%) — lay more than 100 kilometres from the finish, making it look like an ideal day for breakaway riders.

From the very start, things went badly wrong. A mass crash brought the race to a brief halt. Lorenzo Finn, sixth in stage two and sixth in the general classification, was among the most seriously affected. The young Italian was taken to hospital by ambulance. After around 15 minutes the race resumed, but some ten riders were unable to continue.

After the unfortunate incident, the pace in the peloton was not immediately high. It was only on the Passo Castrin that a group of riders attempted to break away from the bunch. The group of eight included Dutchmen Gijs Leemreize (Picnic PostNL) and Sam Oomen (Lidl-Trek). The group was given little room, however, and Finlay Pickering (Jayco AlUla) eventually pushed on alone.

The Brit could not sustain his effort for long and the peloton had already come back together before the summit of the climb. Sam Oomen had clearly no intention of spending the day in the bunch and attacked for a second time. The Dutchman got Darren Rafferty (EF Education-EasyPost) to come with him and the pair quickly built a two-minute advantage. However, that was all the the gap the bunch would allow them.

With Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe setting the tempo, the peloton kept things steady at two minutes. The peloton had, however, already been considerably thinned out by the demanding climbing.

On the second climb of the day, Christopher Juul-Jensen (Jayco AlUla) attempted to bridge across to the leading duo, but it turned into a classic chasse patat effort for the Dane.

After the final climb, Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe received help from Pinarello-Q36.5, who appeared to have confidence in the sprinting ability of Tom Pidcock. The collaboration at the front of the peloton immediately resulted in a significant reduction in the gap to the leading pair. With 25 kilometres to go, Oomen and Rafferty had just one minute in hand, and it looked as though the winner would come from the peloton.

Within the bunch, Pidcock suddenly found himself unable to follow on the final climb towards Tenno. The Brit has talked about his tough week already, and could not hold the pace set by the Pellizzari group, leaving the peloton one team short at the front. For a brief moment, Oomen and Rafferty could dream of a stage win — but Rafferty's own EF Education-EasyPost teammate Rodríguez put a stop to that as he bizzarely attacked out of the peloton.

Meanwhile, Pidcock had managed to come back, and Pinarello-Q36.5 immediately moved to the front. With 10 kilometres to go, the leading pair had just ten seconds in hand. When Pidcock then accelerated on the descent, the breakaway riders' dream looked well and truly over. With four kilometres to the finish, the peloton had definitively caught the leaders.

At the point of catch there was little control in the bunch, and attacks came thick and fast. Egan Bernal and Ben O'Connor both tried their luck but were quickly reeled in. As the final kilometre began, it looked set to be a sprint once again. Dati was well positioned just as he had been on stage one, but had to concede to an irrepressible Pidcock.

Pidcock had clearly done his homework regarding the finale of the stage, and attacked into the all-important final right hander. Showing the racing prowess he had earned on the UK crit racing cirecuits, the Yorkshireman kicked hard out of the final corner, forcing his opponents to fight for his disappearing wheel. He won with a clean pair of heels and his hands in the air.