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Iván Romeo secured his first skilled victory racing for Movistar with a solo win on stage 3 on the Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana.
The under-23 time trial World Champion made a late-race assault contained in the 16km to go and began the ultimate 1.2km climb to the end with a 27-second benefit on a diminished discipline, crossing the end line with the win in Alpuente.
Santiago Buitrago (Bahrain-Victorious) completed second place and João Almeida (UAE Workforce Emirates-XRG) taking third place, each at 10 seconds behind the stage winner.
Almeida moved into the general race lead after securing beneficial time bonuses atop the ultimate ascent of the day, El Remedio. He’s now two seconds forward of runner-up Buitrago because the race heads into stage 4 from Oropesa del Mar to Portell de Morellaon Saturday.
The way it unfolded
The third day of racing on the Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana was a 180km race from Algemesí to Alpuente. The peloton tackled three ascents at Alto de Alcublas, Peñas de Dios and Romedio earlier than an undulating 20km to the end, the place a 1km steep last climb awaited.
An early breakaway of six riders emerged that included Francisco Muñoz (Polti VisitMalta), Matteo Scalco (VF Group-Bardiani CSF-Faizanè), Unai Iribar (Equipo Kern Pharma), Walter Calzoni (Q36.5 Professional Biking), Filippo Ridolfo (Novo Nordisk) and Jose Juan Prieto (Petrolike).
The break initially pushed their result in practically seven minutes, however that was shortly slashed to underneath 4 minutes over the primary ascent at Alto de Alcublas (4.7km at 5.4%) and towards the second climb at Peñas de Dios (3.7km at 6.3%).
As Bahrain Victorious and Lidl-Trek took the reigns on the entrance of the peloton, the hole continued to fall to underneath two minutes as they approached the ultimate principal ascent over El Remedio (7.9km at 6.5%).
The breakaway was caught on the decrease slopes as UAE Workforce Emirates-XRD lit up the race on the steeper sections of the ascent, splitting the peloton aside.
Mathias Vacek (Lidl-Trek) began the day within the chief’s jersey, two seconds forward of João Almeida (UAE Workforce Emirates-XRG) and 5 and 16 seconds, respectively, forward of Bahrain Victorious teammates Santiago Buitrago and Pello Bilbao.
Nonetheless, Vacek was distanced on the climb and misplaced 50 seconds, slipping out of competition within the general classification.
Almeida and Buitrago battled excessive of Remedio for the bonus seconds, with the Portuguese rider securing the three bonus seconds and turning into the digital chief on the street, with Buitrago proper on his wheel.
The pair descended 5 seconds forward of the diminished discipline that included different GC contenders like Brandon McNulty (UAE Workforce Emirates-XRG), Thymen Arensman and Carlos Rodríguez (Ineos Grenadiers), Jefferson Alveiro Cepeda and Iván Romeo (Movistar) all inside 30 seconds of the general lead.
The group caught Almeida and Buitrago inside 16km to go, the place Romeo was the primary to launch an assault and pushed his result in 15 seconds.
The Spanish rider, who signed with Movistar in 2023, was trying to find his first skilled victory after profitable a stage on the 2023 Tour de l’Avenir and the under-23 time trial world title final 12 months.
The solo transfer pressured UAE Workforce Emirates-XRG, Ineos Grenadiers and Bahrain Victorious to steer the chase behind, however the wide-open roads catered to Romeo’s time trial strengths, and he continued to push his result in 23 seconds inside 5 kilometres from the road.
Romeo hit the ultimate 1.2km climb to the end line with 27 seconds in hand. Behind, Arensman was the primary to assault from the sector however then settled again into the group. The tempo was quick, however there was not sufficient street left to catch Romeo, so he crossed the road 10 seconds forward to safe his first skilled victory with Movistar in Alpuente.
Outcomes
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