Thanks for following along today, and be sure to join us again tomorrow. It’s another rolling day that could be another one for the sprinters, but with some more climbs closer to the finish to complicate matters.
Van Aert also explained that the fluctuations in pace during the finale was indeed down to the wind, and that things calmed down when they went into a headwind.
Van Aert was further down that he'd hoped, finishing 8th. He explained at the finish how he lost his good position in the bunch during the last kilometre.
Three or four riders went down in the crash in the final kilometre. It was at high-speed, but all of the fallers appear to have got back up and made it accross the line.
The top ten in full:
It was Van Uden who changed the nature of the sprint. He launched his from far outm overtaking De Lie. Meeus latched onto Van Uden's wheel, then stormed past him as he ran out of steam.
De Lie seemed well-placed after the long corner, but gets swamped when the sprints begin behind him.
Dainese was second, Girmay third, De Lie fourth, and Van Uden faded to 5th.
Casper van Uden led for much of the sprint, but Meeus came round him to take the win.
Meeus wins the sprint
Meeus sprints..and Meeus wins!
Lotto lead into the corner, De Lie is stll well-placed.
There's a crash near the front.
Her comes an all-important corner...
De Lie is well-place as they enter the final 1km. He's third in line.
It's still all spread out though, on a wide road.
Red Bull retake control as they go under the 2km to go banner.
Here com Lidl-Trek again, who take control.
3km to go!
They're flying along now, at 70km per hour.
Now Red Bull take over at the front, following a roundabout. The peloton is still very bunched though.
EF Education are one of those teams vying for control, having done a lot of work earlier.
Lidl-Trek are again at the forefront, but surronded by many other teams.
8km to go now, and it seems the sprint teams are starting to prepare for the finale. The peloton is still bunched up, but the pace is noticeably up.
10KM REMAINING
It seems to have been instigated by an attack from an APHotels & Resorts rider.
Race on again! The peloton is all strung out again.
Some riders are having conversations towards the back of the peloton. There really has been a drastic change in pace - it seems the riders might have been anticipating wind disrupting the race, and have now calmed down as that failed to materialise.
The peloton is spread horizontally now, with multiple teams bunched together It seems the battle for position is on hold for now.
The pace is slow enough for Jonas Vingegaard to give a relaxed wave to the TV moto camera.
The pace has slowed down again in the peloton, for the first time in a while. Lidl-Trek are still leading it.
Jordi Meeus had been out the peloton, but has returned again with help from a Red Bull teammate.
Romain Bardet has abandoned the race. That's a real shame given the form he looked in. We can only hope he isn't too badt hurt, and can get his fairwell season back on track.
20KM REMAINING
Bardet is making his way to the car now. It seems he's about to abandon.
Bardet and his teammate did both manage to get upright again, but it seemed Bardet was getting checked for concussion before setting off again.
Bardet looked in great shape yesterday, and was fourth overall on GC. He stands to lose time now though.
Two Picnic PostNL have just gone down in a crash - and one of them is Romain Bardet.
Vacek does indeed take the three bonus seconds. He was 16th on GC, 40 seconds down.
Lidl-Trek are leading the peloton, and are trying to lead out Vacek to the intermediate sprint.
It could also be the wind that is causing the surge in pace. Riders don’t want to be caught out in any potential splits, and there are some bends in the road and therefore changes in direction.
There’s an intermediate sprint coming up in a few kilometres, with some bonus seconds available. Will any of the GC men go for them?
30KM REMAINING
Groupama-FDJ, Soudal-QuickStep and Ineos Grenadiers are among the teams rivalling EF at the front.
40KM REMAINING
Puncture for Jesus Herrada, who is one of the Cofidis riders tasked with helping Fretin go for a sprint win today.
Tivani must be delighted. He's been after that jersey since day one, when he was denied the chance of wearing it when the stage was annulled. Now he'll at last get his moment on the podium at the stage finish.
Tivani moves off the front, and takes the points. He's wearing the blue jersey on loan from Jan Christen who's wearing the yellow jersey, but not owns it officially.
They're 1km from the top of the climb. No attacks have been made, so the stage is set for Tivani to take the point he needs.
Red Bull-Bora Hansgrohe are also at the front. Their sprinter Jordi Meeus is another candidate for the stage win in a bunch finish.
50KM REMAINING
EF Education-EasyPost are now leading the peloton alongside Aviludo - Louletano - Loulé. They presumably want to keep the race controlled, for sprinter Madis Mihkels.
That’s part one of the team’s plan executed - but they still need to ensure Tivani gets to the top first. They’re still leading the peloton as they approach the climb but only have two domestiques left.
The final three survivors of the break are brought back, with 53km to go.
It looks like Aviludo - Louletano - Loulé are going to have their way. They have the three leaders in their sights now, and look set to make the catch.
Most of the break has just been caught, 56km from the finish. But Salgueiro is still out there, and has been joined by Silva and Fonte.
Salgueiro has succeeded in breaking clear from the rest.
Not all the riders in the break have given up yet, however. It’s breaking up as they’ve started to attack each other.
Interestingly, it’s not one of the sprinter teams who have caused the gap to suddenly plummet, but Aviludo - Louletano - Loulé. They must be riding for German Nicolás Tivani, who needs only one point on the upcoming climb to take the lead in the mountains classification.
60KM REMAINING
They've now reached the bottom of the descent, and will now undertake a flat run-in before taking on the next climb, in about 15km.
70KM REMAINING
Stage three of the Vuelta a Andalucia has wrapped up - here’s what went down.
80KM REMAINING
The leading group mostly stayed together on the climb, apart from Oliveira, who has been dropped.
The breakaway have reached the top, with Johnson leading ahead of Ribeiro and Pinheiro for the KOM points.
The gap has remained stable so far on the climb, hovering around 2-30.
They will be climbing for 6.2km, at an average of 4.4%.
90KM REMAINING
A reminder of the ten riders up the road
The riders are about to head down a short descent, taking them to the foot of the day’s first official climb, the category three Mercador.
100KM REMAINING
Intermarché - Wanty are doing most of the work on this uphill, and have upped the pace. They seem intent on making the race hard for the others, and in favour of their man Girmay.
Arnaud De Lie is another rider worth looking out for in the finale. With only one week to go until Omloop Het Nieuwsblad, where he was so impressive two years, he’ll want to be coming into form by now.
110KM REMAINING
Another rider to look out for the finale today is Wout van Aert. Talking at the start of the stage, he confirmed his intentions of doing a sprint today.
120KM REMAINING
EF Education-EasyPost are also backing youth, in 21 year-old Madis Mihkels. The team were also prominent at the front two days ago, but Mihkels was unable to sprint after the chaos at the end - it’ll be fascinating to see how he goes today, and if he can live up to his team's faith.
Cofidis must be confident in the chances of Fretin winning a sprint, given the way he was victorious on his first race day of the season, at Clasica de Almeria. For a small team like Cofidis, a sprinter who can reliably deliver victories is gold dust, and they might have found just that in the 23-year-old.
130KM REMAINING
This could be a stage well-suited to Girmay. Though the terrain isn’t tough enough for any sprinters to be dropped, the rolling roads could wear their legs out more than the superior climber Girmay, leaving him fresher for the finale.
Intermarché - Wanty, Cofidis and EF Education-EasyPost are pulling at the front of the peloton suggesting they have confidence in their respective leaders Biniam Girmay, Milan Fretin and Madis Mihkels.
140KM REMAINING
The terrain is a little tricker now, as the riders make their way up an uncategorised climb.They won’t descend the other side of it, either, instead going along a false flat for a long time, then climbing another uncategorised climb. Nothing too difficult, but it will sap the legs.
While we wait for the action to get going here, have a read of our report on today’s eventful UAE Tour stage.
150KM REMAINING
160KM REMAINING
There are cloudier skies than the previous two days, but it's still pleasantly warm, with temperature just shy of 20 degrees.
All of them are Portuguese, apart from the Brit Johnson, who is also the highest placed rider at a distant 9.14. So nothing for the peloton to worry about.
Here are the ten riders leading the race at the moment:
170KM REMAINING
We’ll have a full run-down of the breakaway group soon, but it’s made up almost exclusively of Portuguese riders.
That gap has quickly grown up to about 1-30. The break of the day has been formed.
Ten riders have got up the road, and they have a lead of 20 seconds.
His hopes are short lived, as he's bright back.
Carlos Miguel Salgueiro is the first rider to try and get up the road.
184KM REMAINING
Back to today, and the riders have just set off from the unofficial start and making their way through a short neutralised zone.
Visma’s loss was UAE Team Emirates' gain. Jan Christen reiterated his huge potential by taking stage victory and the overall lead on the summit, paralleling what teammate Tadej Pogačar did at the same age at this race six years ago. Ever the fickle sport, it’s tempting to already talk him up as ‘the next Pogačar’?
Visma-Lease a Bike were certainly expecting better, as was clear from the fact they had their riders lead the bunch all day. DS Arthur van Dongen said afterwards that their plan was executed fine, but Vingegaard simply didn’t have the legs in the finale.
Reflecting back on yesterday, it was arguably the most surprising result of the season so far. Cycling in the past few years has often been quite predictable, with a small elite of riders dominating every race they appear in -.of which Jonas Vingegaard is one. Yesterday, however, Vingegaard looked human, and was unable to drop his rivals in the finale and finished down in sixth.
That said, the parcours isn’t quite as flat as the opening day, and isn’t straightforward for the sprinters.
After the GC race kicked off yesterday, stage three is poised to be a day for the sprinters - and hopefully one in which they actually get to sprint, unlike on stage one.
Welcome to Cyclingnews' live coverage of stage 3 at the Volta ao Algarve
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