Tirreno-Adriatico: Jasper Philipsen wins stage 3 sprint

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Jasper Philipsen won the bunch sprint on stage 3 at Tirreno-Adriatico after a perfectly-timed lead-out from Alpecin-Deceuninck teammate Mathieu van der Poel. Phil Bauhaus (Bahrain-Victorious) finished second, and Biniam Girmay (Intermarché-Circus-Wanty) third on the technical run-in to Foligno.

"It is always nice to win, and definitely after a team effort like this, to win is very nice," Philipsen said in a post-race interview. "Our teammate Gianni Vermeersch told us in a meeting this morning that it was possible to have a crosswind in the final 10km. Jumbo was strong, and I was far behind [the splits in the field], but there was [Filippo] Ganna, whose wheel I could take to bridge to the first group. It came back together, and it was an expected bunch sprint.

"The season's start didn't go as we hoped for the team. It's still early, and we have to stay calm, as we did in the previous years, and the wins will come. A team effort, like today, with the team keeping me in a good position, and, in the end, with Mathieu, I didn't have to make a long sprint because his lead-out was so strong. It was so nice."

Jumbo-Visma pushed the pace in the closing ten kilometres of the stage, splitting the field through the crosswinds with Primož Roglič and teammate Wout van Aert making it in the select group, while other key contenders and sprinters were caught out in the larger second group on the road. Meanwhile, overall leader Filippo Ganna (Ineos Grenadiers) used his time trial power to bridge across to the front group.

Girmay helped push the pace as one of the only sprinters in the selection, undoubtedly sensing the opportunity for an easy stage win.

However, with the gap hovering at just eight seconds and a long straight run-in into a block headwind to the finish, the connection between the two groups was made inside 3km from the finish, with order restored at the front of the field and teams with fast sprinters organising their lead-outs.

Soudal-QuickStep took the reins inside 2km to go, with Alpecin-Deceuninck pulling alongside through a sequence of corners under the flamme rouge, which made positioning extra important.

Bahrain Victorious and Alpecin-Deceuninck clashed through the final chicane, with Van der Poel storming through to the lead and perfectly delivering Philipsen to the stage win. Bahrain-Victorious was forced to settle for second place with Bauhaus and Girmay with enough left in the tank to finish third.

Ganna maintained his lead in the overall classification, leading Tirreno-Adriatico ahead of stage 4 on Thursday with 28 seconds ahead of Lennard Kämna (Bora-Hansgrohe) and 31 seconds on teammate Magnus Sheffield.

"I didn't see the sprint, and it was stressful in the final, but it was OK. We tried to take the gap, but in the end, the bunch came back," Ganna said.

Asked if he envisioned himself keeping the jersey for another day at Tirreno-Adriatico, Ganna said, "We'll see tomorrow."

How it unfolded

The third day of Tirreno-Adriatico would bring with it another needlessly long sprint stage, a 216km run from Follonica to Foligno with two classified climbs in the first half of the race.

As was the case on stage 2, the breakaway went away almost immediately, this time with three of the five riders who were in the break on Tuesday.

Mountain classification leader Stefano Gandin was joined by Corratec teammate Alessandro Iacchi and his KOM rival Davide Bais, while Bais’ brother and Eolo-Kometa teammate Mattia also joined the move.

The quartet was quickly allowed to build a six-minute lead as sprint teams, including Soudal-QuickStep, Alpecin-Dececuninck, and Jayco-AlUla, took charge of the peloton.

Up front, the move split up on the climb of the Passo del Lume Spento after 70km of racing, with the Eolo-Kometa duo pushing on in an attempt to claim the green jersey for Davide Bais.

The move was successful as the brothers put a minute into the Corratec pair, and Bais claimed a total of 10 points there and on La Foce to make it 13 in total to Gandin’s nine and secure the KOM lead at the day’s end.

Aside from that, there was little action through the mid-part of the stage. Gandin and Iacchi dropped back to the peloton with 100km to run, while the Bais brothers lasted a further 30km before they, too, were reabsorbed.

From that point onwards, with little to fight over and no chance of any attack making it to the finish, the riders may as well have taken their team buses to the last 15km.

Despite some chat of wind and a few small hills at 40km to go, nothing of note occurred between the 70km mark and the final kilometres before the line, an entire two hours of racing could have just as well never happened.

The peloton lined out as things sped up on the final run to Foligno, with Jumbo-Visma pushing the pace and causing splits at the front inside the final 10km.

The Dutch squad put five of their men up front, bringing 14 more – sprinters and GC men included – with them, as the likes of Filippo Ganna (Ineos Grenadiers), Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Deceuninck), Biniam Girmay (Intermarché-Circus-Wanty), Adam Yates (UAE Team Emirates), and Aleksandr Vlasov (Bora-Hansgrohe) joined in the move.

However, the advantage was never more than a handful of seconds, and the threat was neutralised at 4km to go, with Soudal-QuickStep leading the chase behind.

The Belgian team led the way in the final kilometres, though the likes of Movistar, Bahrain Victorious, Trek-Segafredo, and Alpecin-Deceuninck also made their way into prime position up front.

In the end, it was Alpecin-Deceuninck and Mathieu van der Poel who led the peloton, when it mattered most, into the technical finale. He pulled Philipsen and Bauhaus along around the final bend, releasing his sprinter at 125 metres to go.

Philipsen’s win was never in doubt, with Bauhaus never able to get off his wheel, and at the side of the road, Van der Poel was already celebrating before his teammate had crossed the line.

Further back, Girmay nipped past Matteo Moschetti (Q36.5) to grab third place, but the day was Philipsen’s as the 25-year-old sped to his first win of 2023.

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