Vuelta a España: Rein Taaramäe wins summit finish on stage 3

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Rein Taaramäe (Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert Matériaux) won atop Picón Blanco climb from the early break of the day and took the race leader’s red jersey, as behind him the first mountain finish of the 2021 Vuelta a España gradually and painfully revealed the early overall classification hierarchy.  

Taaramäe went deep to gradually distance arguably better climbers Joe Dombrowski (UAE Team Emirates) and Kenny Elissonde (Trek-Segafredo) in the final three kilometres of the 7.6km long Picón Blanco climb to win alone.  

Dombrowski finished 21 seconds behind, with Elissonde third at 36 seconds. Lilian Calmejane (AG2R Citroën) was fourth at 1:16.

Behind the break, Enric Mas (Movistar) kicked clear to gain three seconds on his overall rivals. Primož Roglič (Jumbo-Visma), Egan Bernal and Adam Yates (Ineos Grenadiers), Giulio Ciccone (Trek-Segafredo) and Mikel Landa (Bahrain Victorious) were all there, but Hugh Carthy (EF Education-Nippo) conceded 21 seconds while Aleksandr Valsov (Astana-Premier Tech) and Romain Bardet (Team DSM) lost 30 seconds. 

Olympic road race champion Richard Carapaz (Ineos Grenadiers) struggled far more and lost a minute, perhaps ending his overall ambitions. Sepp Kuss (Jumbo-Visma) suffered the same fate, losing two minutes.

Taaramäe won a mountain stage of the 2016 Giro d’Italia and a stage at the Vuelta a España a decade ago to La Farrapona but this was by far the biggest day of his career as he also pulled on the leader’s jersey. 

He leads Elissonde by 25 seconds, with Roglič slipping third overall at 30 seconds. 

It was only Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert Matériaux's fourth victory of the 2021 season, as the Belgian team struggled to step up to WorldTour level, yet Taaramäe went in the break of the day thinking he could win big.

“I have quite good state [form] and I have a very smart sporting director in Valerio Piva. Yesterday evening we said that we'd try to win the stage and take the leader's jersey,” he said. “I believed in myself today. It was all about whether the peloton would catch us or not. When I saw that we would do it, then I had questions about how good Joe Dombrowski and Kenny Elissonde were. They are all good riders so I didn't know if I could beat them, but I believed it because I already did it many times. When I won a stage of the Giro, Joe was in third up there with me and now we were fighting against each other. So I believed in myself very much today.”

Taaramäe kissed the roja-coloured leader’s jersey on the podium. 

“It's a big deal because I'm 34 years old and I don't have many years left to try to do this,” he said. 

“I have a stage in the Vuelta and Giro but I’ve dreamt a lot about a leader's jersey in a Grand Tour, at least for some days to enjoy and feel how it's going to be. Today I did it and I'm very, very happy.” 

How it unfolded

The rolling profile of the 203km stage and the chance that Jumbo-Visma would almost certainly let the race leadership go, meant an early breakaway was going to shape the stage. The big question was who would be in it. 

Ryan Gibbons (UAE Team Emirates) was the first to attack after the race left the Silos Monastery and then Antonio Jesus Soto (Euskaltel-Euskadi) inspired the real break of the day. 

Soon after Dombrowski, Calmejane, Elissonde, Taaramäe, Tobias Bayer (Alpecin-Fenix), Julen Amezqueta (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA) and Jetse Bol (Burgos-BH) joined him to create the move of the stage. Behind Jumbo-Visma controlled the peloton on behalf of Roglič and the gap was up to three minutes after 25km. 

The early third-category Puerto del Manquillo helped the break extend their lead to five minutes and then the racing steadied into a game of slow cat and mouse, with the rest of the peloton letting and obliging Jumbo-Visma to lead the chase. Robert Gesink did much of the work on the front as the gap to the break gradually extended out to nine minutes with 80km to race. 

The road north towards the Picón Blanco was on exposed rolling roads, a headwind and summer heat slowing the pace, and the lack of any gusts and crosswinds deterred attacks in the peloton. 

The peloton was at 8:40 with 40km to race, as several short climbs reared their head before the haul up to the cooler and higher slopes of the Picón Blanco. The third-cat Puerto de Bocos shook up the break and awoke the peloton. 

Bayer was first to the top but Calmejane went on the attack alone over the top, as the peloton rode the climb at pace and reduced the gap to 4:00. 

The Frenchman tried to open a gap on his better climbing rivals in the break but his lead was held at just 15 seconds at the foot of the Picón Blanco. He was caught as the gradient hit double figures in the second kilometre of the 7.6km climb. 

The peloton was all together at 3:30, as the team leader’s prepared for the first big mountain finish shake-out of the 2021 Vuelta.With five kilometres to go,

Dombrowski upped the pace to test his breakaway rivals. Bol and then Amezqueta were the first to be distanced, while Elissonde and Taaramäe hung on to the American. The rest were cast aside, with nothing to shoes for their 200km out front. 

In the peloton Bahrain Victorious were the first to break the status quo with four kilometres to go, upping the pace for Landa. However they soon backed off when the Basque leader seemed unable to hold the pace or attack. 

Amongst the overall contenders, with a head wind on key parts of the climb, it was really about avoiding losing time rather than taking risks to gain some. 

However the increased pace cracked Sepp Kuss (Jumbo-Visma), with 50 or so riders still in the peloton. Soon after, Richard Carapaz (Ineos Grenadiers) was also at the back, clearly suffering and then was quickly distanced.

Up front Taaramäe gradually managed to distance Dombrowski and Elissonde metre after metre to carve out his winning and race leadership margin. After so much defeat and disappointment during the season, he and Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert Matériaux were finally the big winners of the day.