‪New Website for all of my cycling videos - http://tiz-cycling.ml Twitter : https://twitter.com/Tizucumacu Donations : https://goo.gl/Ax70AD Girona - La Molina (Alp) - 172,1 km Girona - La Molina (Alp) - 172,1 km *********************************************************************** Stage 3 at the Volta was a big day for the peloton with four category 1 ascents: Alt de Coubet (66km), Alt de Toses (120km), Alde de La Molina (150km) and the climb to the finish in La Molina. Dan Martin (Etixx-QuickStep) took a hard-fought stage 3 victory at Volta a Calatunya, in what was a thrilling last kilometre on the summit finish to La Molina. After a surprise attack against the event's headlining overall contenders, the Irishman muscled his way to the finish with the stage win despite a desperate chase from runner-up Alberto Contador (Tinkoff) and Romain Bardet (AG2R La Mondiale) in third. BMC teammates Tejay van Garderen and Richie Porte finished fourth and fifth, respectively. Martin's victory bumped him up into the overall race lead by six seconds ahead of Contador and Bardet. The battle for the overall victory will continue with another challenging day in the mountains at the Volta a Catalunya's stage 4 from Bagà to Port Ainé. The final climb to La Molina At the base of the finale climb to La Molina, the field’s top climbers moved to the front with Contador and Froome, Vincenzo Nibali (Astana), Nairo Quintana (Movistar), Tejay van Garderen (BMC), Esteban Chaves (Orica-GreenEdge) and Joaquim Rodriguez (Katusha) waiting for the right time to strike out. Lotto Soudal’s Louis Vervaeke was the first to make a move with 10km to go and with no massive response from the peloton he gained some time, sailing passed fading breakaway rider Pieter Weening (Roompot). Team Sky towed what was left of the field up the shallower slopes, blasting passed Vervaeke with five kilometres go to. They held a tight grip over the next kilometre as the 25 remaining men calculated how they were going to take the finish. A slight dip down gave the riders some reprieve but the slope kicked up again with two kilometres to go, the perfect time for Wout Poels (Team Sky) launched his attack. He was quickly marked by Quintana and then Ilnur Zakarin (Katusha). Richie Porte (BMC) was the next to make a move with one kilometre to go, as van Garderen sat slightly further back. Quintana’s attacked looked strongest so far, Martin punched around him in his own bid for the victory. Martin opened a quick and unmistakable gap as Contador gave chase in a desperate an unsuccessful attempt to close damage. Martin stormed to the finish line with the stage win as Contador and Bardet raced in for second place, leaving the fourth and fifth places to BMC’s duo Porte and van Garderen. Overall race leader Nacer Bouhanni, who won stage 1 and stage 2, was forced to abandon part way through. He began losing time after about an hour of racing, losing around five minutes at kilometre 62 and over seven at kilometre 85, and he ultimately abandoned at the 90-kilometre mark. Stage Results : 1 Daniel Martin (Irl) Etixx - Quick-Step 5:00:27 2 Alberto Contador (Spa) Tinkoff Team 0:00:02 3 Romain Bardet (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale 4 Tejay Van Garderen (USA) BMC Racing Team 5 Richie Porte (Aus) BMC Racing Team 0:00:09 6 Davide Formolo (Ita) Cannondale Pro Cycling 0:00:11 7 Ilnur Zakarin (Rus) Team Katusha 0:00:12 8 Christopher Froome (GBr) Team Sky 9 Hugh Carthy (GBr) Caja Rural-Seguros RGA 0:00:18 10 Rigoberto Uran (Col) Cannondale Pro Cycling General classification after stage 3 : 1 Daniel Martin (Irl) Etixx - Quick-Step 14:08:18 2 Alberto Contador (Spa) Tinkoff Team 0:00:06 3 Romain Bardet (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale 0:00:08 4 Tejay Van Garderen (USA) BMC Racing Team 0:00:12 5 Richie Porte (Aus) BMC Racing Team 0:00:19 6 Davide Formolo (Ita) Cannondale Pro Cycling 0:00:21 7 Christopher Froome (GBr) Team Sky 0:00:22 8 Ilnur Zakarin (Rus) Team Katusha 9 Geraint Thomas (GBr) Team Sky 0:00:28 10 Rigoberto Uran (Col) Cannondale Pro Cycling

• published: 23 Mar 2016
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