Tour of the Alps stage 3 – Live coverage

Good morning, we're in Imst for the start of stage 3 of the Tour of the Alps. The riders have rolled out for the 162km stage, and we're all set for another difficult day in the saddle. No mountain finish today but plenty of climbing on the menu.

Some breaking news though this morning...

Meanwhile there are reports of a positive test ahead of Fleche Wallonne. We'll have more on that story as soon as possible. 

Major news coming out from UAE Team Emirates, and they're out of La Fleche Wallonne. Here's their complete statement in full.

We regret to inform that UAE Team Emirates will not participate in Flèche Wallone due to 2 members returning positive tests for Covid-19 on April 20.

The 2 members of the team concerned, Diego Ulissi and one staff member (who is also vaccinated), returned 2 negative tests in the days before travelling to Belgium.

Upon arrival to Belgium both underwent a subsequent test which returned a positive result.

Since the original ‘positive’ test, both members have undergone 3 separate tests each: 2 antigen and 1 molecular. All the results from these subsequent tests returned negative results and neither displays any symptoms.

Though the team is frustrated by the ruling, we fully accept the final decision of the Belgian authorities.

The team will withdraw from the race and undergo further testing with the aim to start Liege-Bastogne-Liege on Sunday.

Back to this race and Matteo Fabbro and Alessandro De Marchi have both gone from the bunch and attacked on the first climb of the day. 20km into the stage and the pair have 18 seconds over the peloton. 

142km to go

142km to go in the stage and these two are just maintaining their slender lead at the moment. It's Team BikeExchange on the front right now at the head of the peloton with Simon Yates well protected by his teammates. 

Another group of seven have clipped off the front on the climb, and they're hunting down De Marchi and Fabbro. 

Here's our full story on UAE Team Emirates. 

Over the top of the first climb and we have a number of attacks and new groups have formed. In the first group we have Antonio Nibali, Gianni Moscon, Edward Ravisi, Mark Christian, Matteo Fabbro, Herman Pernsteiner, Felix Grobschartner, Luis Leon Sanchez, Tony Gallopin, Francois Bidard, Tejay van Garderen, Harold Tejada, Alessandro de Marchi, and Michael Storer. 

115km to go

115km to go and the 15 riders out front have 2'23 over the main field.

A reminder of the riders on the attack:

Antonio Nibali, Gianni Moscon, Edward Ravisi, Mark Christian, Matteo Fabbro, Herman Pernsteiner, Felix Grobschartner, Luis Leon Sanchez, Tony Gallopin, Francois Bidard, Tejay van Garderen, Harold Tejada, Alessandro de Marchi, and Michael Storer. 

To be fair that's a really strong group up the road and the profile of the stage certainly lends itself to a break staying clear. Can the leaders build on this early advantage though, that's the big question. 

We're running three live races all at once today. Here you can follow the women's La Fleche Wallonne, while the men's edition of the race is just here. 

Away from today's racing, I highly recommend that you read this overview and analysis from the Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana. It's an excellent piece of writing about a race that went slightly under the radar last week. 

Last shout out for content, but here's our guide to all things related to bikepacking. Not sure what bikepacking really is? Me either, but this story will help explain things to you. 

109km to go

Back to this race and the break are losing time. Maybe there are just too many riders up the road and they're not collaborating. With 109km to go the gap is down to 1'48. So they've lost about 45 seconds in the last 10km of racing. Not good. 

We're about to hit the lower slopes of the Passo Resia. It's a long 17km climb with an average gradient of 3.1per cent -so not tough but after such a frantic start to the stage this could cause some problems in the main field. It also provides the break the opportunity to drop some of the riders who are content to just hang on at the back for the time being.

101km to go and the break have found another 10 seconds, so the lead is back up to 1'55 but that's not going to be anywhere near enough today. 

If you missed the news today, the major news at least, UAE Team Emirates did not start the men's edition of La Fleche Wallonne. Here's our breaking story from earlier this morning. It means that defending champion Marc Hirschi and Tour de France winner Tadej Pogacar are not in the running for the semi-classic.

Uno-X, who ride in a kit that constantly makes me think of Kodak, are out of the Tour of the Alps too, because of a COVID-19 positive case. That story is right here.

We're about halfway up the Passo Resia, a second category climb, and the break are still holding an advantage of around 1'50. We've 96km to go in the stage.

The climb has leveled out to a shade over 2 per cent, and it's like this all the way to the top. The leaders still with just under two minutes over the peloton.

A reminder of the riders in the break today:

Antonio Nibali, Gianni Moscon, Edward Ravisi, Mark Christian, Matteo Fabbro, Herman Pernsteiner, Felix Grobschartner, Luis Leon Sanchez, Tony Gallopin, Francois Bidard, Tejay van Garderen, Harold Tejada, Alessandro de Marchi, and Michael Storer. 

You can find our complete start list for the race, right here.

Here's how the GC stands coming into today's stage

1Simon Yates (GBr) Team BikeExchange6:46:56
2 Pavel Sivakov (Rus) Ineos Grenadiers0:00:45
3 Daniel Martin (Irl) Israel Start-up Nation0:01:04
4 Aleksandr Vlasov (Rus) Astana-Premier Tech0:01:08
5 Jefferson Cepeda Ortiz (Ecu) Caja Rural-Seguros RGA
6 Jai Hindley (Aus) Team DSM0:01:27
7 Hugh Carthy (GBr) EF Education-Nippo
8 Nicholas Schultz (Aus) Team BikeExchange0:01:52
9 Ruben Guerreiro (Por) EF Education-Nippo
10 Pello Bilbao Lopez De Armentia (Spa) Bahrain Victorious

In terms of a threat coming from the break, the highest placed rider in Antonio Nibali (Ita) Trek-Segafredo, who sits at 3'01 down on Simon Yates' leader's jersey.

90km to go and the gap between the break and the peloton is down to around 90 seconds. It's not looking great for the riders up front to be honest.

De Marchi leads over the top of the climb followed by Gallopin and then Moscon.

There's no immediate descent and the road simply levels off for the time being. 85km to go and the break are 2'07 ahead of the main field.

Onto the descent proper now and it's Team BikeExchange who set the pace. The leaders have 2'23 with 70km to go.

Over in Belgium, and Anna Van Der Breggen has come out on top in the women's race. Here's our report, results and photos from the race.

56km to go

56km to go and the break have pushed their advantage out to 2'40.

Were on the lower slopes of an unclassified, and arguably hardest climb, of the day.

De Marchi and several other riders have been distanced on the climb. 

He's now back with the leaders though so there was a brief split but the leaders are back together and it's Bardiani who are chasing at the front of the peloton. Absolutely no idea why they're doing that as Moscon takes a long pull for the front of the break. The gap is at 2'06.

This climb goes up and down with plenty of changes in pace as the Italian lines out the break before taking a swig from his bidon and swinging off. 

Yates has about 4 men around him and looks comfortable as up the road Moscon stamps on the pedals again. I think he wants to ride the Giro. 48km to go and the gap is at 1'50.

Onto the descent now and the gap is holding around two minutes. 

39km to go and Bardiani have kicked two riders up the road. 1'22 is the gap.

So that means BikeExchange need to take up the pace setting and they duly come to the front with 36km to go. The two Bardiani riders have about 10 seconds on the peloton. 

Tejada and Ravasi has been caught by the two Bardiani riders after they were dropped by the early break. 34km to go.

BikeExchange have really put the hammer down and there are only about 50 riders left in the main field. 31km to go and the gap to the break is at 1'16.

Just a minute for the leaders now and it's basically a TTT for BikeExchange as we head for the final climb of the stage.

Trouble for Sivakov, he's crashed and isn't in this group that includes the GC leaders. Martinez is there for Ineos and that's it.

Sivakov the defending champion, having won this race in 2019, came into the race as a favourite and was sitting second on GC coming into today's stage.

Meanwhile the leaders up the road have 45 seconds with 26km to go.

It looks like Sivakov is about 30 seconds down on the Yates group right now.

We're close to the final climb of the Tarres. It's just over 3km in length but averages betwen 6-7 per cent in gradient.

Onto the climb and Pernsteiner goes with Moscon on his wheel. And now the Ineos rider is clear with 21km to go.

The main field are at 38 seconds.

Felix Großschartner has made his way to Moscon, as we see Sivakov is back in the main field after his crash.

It's Fabbro with Moscon and they're 2.7km from the summit of the climb.

Storer is leading the chase from the rest of the break as UAE set the pace at the front of the main field.

Fabbro, Felix Großschartner, Storer and Moscon join forces with 20km to go. The peloton are at 54 seconds. 

Bilbao has attacked with 19.9km to go and he's tenth on GC. Big move from the Bahrain rider.

15km to go and Bilbao is riding through a few groups and he's at 40 seconds. 

Bilbao has 20 seconds on the peloton but the four leaders are holding their own at the moment, with 13km to go. 

Bilbao now has Pernsteiner with him too, and the gap is down to 34 seconds. 

The gap is coming down though between the four leaders and the Bilbao group. The Yates group is at 59 seconds.

In the second group we have LL Sanchez, Bilbao, Pernsteiner, Bidard. De Marchi and Nibali. They're at 20 seconds with 6.7km to go. The main field at are 1'07.

4.8km to go and it's touch and go for the four leaders out front. 

The quartet are committed but the chasers are at just 17 seconds and they're working well. 

The Yates peloton is at 1'06.

2.5km to and the gap is at 15 seconds. Moscon surely the favourite for the sprint at this point.

1.9km to go and the gap is 11 seconds.

Moscon on the front for the first group with 1.3km to go.

Bilbao is doing all the chasing. 1.1km to go.

800m to go. 

Fabbro hits the front. One last long pull.

400m to go. 

Moscon goes early.

Felix Großschartner is the only rider who can go with him.

Sanchez is closing...

Moscon has this unless Felix Großschartner can get on terms.

Felix Großschartner can't do it and Gianni Moscon wins stage 3 of the Tour of the Alps.

Two wins in three days for the Ineos Grenadiers rider.

Moscon went with 250m to go but was just too powerful for Felix Großschartner.

You can find our brief report, results and photos, right here.