Michael Matthews (Orica-GreenEDGE) again proved his great climbing skills when he beat the GC riders in the tough uphill finale on stage 3 of the Vuelta a Espana. The Australian was glued to Dan Martin’s wheel when the Garmin-Sharp rider accelerated on the final climb and easily passed the Irishman to take both the stage win and the leader’s jersey.

 

Earlier this year Michael Matthews proved that he is not your usual sprinter when he stayed with the climbers in a tough uphill finish in stage 6 of the Giro d’Italia and beat them in the sprint to take a stage win with the maglia rosa on his shoulder. Today he almost copied that achievement when he won a similarly hard stage of the Vuelta  a Espana.

 

Having used his Orica-GreenEDGE team to control the entire stage, Matthews stayed calm in the finale when the riders hit a small 1.5km climb that led to the finish in Arcos de la Frontera. Simon Clarke brought him into position at the bottom where Koen De Kort set a brutal pace with John Degenkolb on his wheel.

 

However, the climb proved to be too tough for the strong German who drifted backwards when Katusha launched a fierce acceleration. Alexandr Kolobnev upped the pace before Giampaolo Caruso took over with Oscar Gatto (Cannondale) on his wheel.

 

Gatto was unable to keep up with his compatriot and suddenly Caruso had gained an advantage that seemed to give a surprise victory. However, the GC riders now started to react and this spelled the end for the Italian.

 

Chris Froome (Sky) launched an acceleration but it was the subsequent move by Daniel Martin that made the difference. The Irishman easily passed Caruso while his GC rivals were all struggling behind.

 

However, one rider seemed to have no trouble keeping up with Martin. Matthews was glued to his wheel and a few metres before the line, he easily passed the Garmin-Sharp rider to take his third ever Vuelta a Espana stage victory.

 

Behind, Joaquim Rodriguez (Katusha) did a great sprint to take third and pick up four important bonus seconds after a finale that was dominated by the GC riders. A split appeared in the end which caused a few riders, including previous leader Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) to lose a few seconds.

 

Matthews was the big winner as he not only took the stage win. With 10 bonus seconds on the line, he took over the leader’s jersey with a four-second advantage over Nairo Quintana (Movistar) while Valverde slipped to third, 7 seconds further adrift.

 

Matthews gets his first chance to wear his new jersey in tomorrow’s stage which is again tailor-made for the Australian. After a flat start, the riders go up two difficult climbs in the finale before descending to a flat finish in Cordoba. A reduced bunch sprint is expected, giving Matthews a great chance to make it two in a row.

 

A hilly stage

After the first road stage had been for the sprinters, the third stage was expected to be for the puncheurs. The route brought the riders over 197.8km from Cadiz to Arcos de la Frontera and was a much hillier affair than the first two flat stages. After an easy first half, the riders went up for category 3 climbs in the finale before they reached the final 46km that were predominantly downhill. Inside the final 2km, however, there was a short 1.5km climb with an average gradient of 6% which led to the slightly descending final 400m

 

All riders who finished yesterday’s stage took today’s start in spectacular fashion as the riders headed out on their journey from the aircraft carrier Juan Carlos 1. Again it was a very hot and sunny day in Andalucia, with temperatures expected to reach 35 degrees.

 

The break takes off

After along neutral zone, the riders got their race off to an easy start as the first break was the one that stuck. Danilo Wyss (BMC), Luis Mas (Caja Rural), Jerome Cousin (Europcar), Jonathan Fumeaux (IAM) and Jacques van Rensburg (MTN-Qhubeka) took off and after 12km of racing, they were already 3.30 ahead.

 

The gap reached 5 minutes before Movistar started to control the situation and while the riders only covered 36.8km in the first hour, they kept the gap stable. After 50km of racing, however, they slowed down a bit, allowing the advantage to grow to 8.05.

 

Orica in control

This prompted Orica-GreenEDGE to react as the Australian team has made this stage a big goal for Michael Matthews. With 115km to go, they had brought the gap down to 6 minutes.

 

The riders had now reached the first climb where Cousin beat Mas and Wyss to put himself in a good position to take the mountains jersey. Orica-GreenEDGE rode pretty fast on the ascent as they had brought the gap down to 3.40 at the top.

 

Mas attacks

The early work was done by Sam Bewley, Mitch Docker and Brett Lancaster and when Cousin beat Wyss and Mas in the second KOM sprint, they were just 3.10 behind. At the bottom of the third climb, the advantage was just 2.30 and everything was under control.

 

On the lower slopes, Mas decided to take off but at first the only effect was that Fumeaux fell off the pace. When he tried again, however, he got clear and quickly gained a big advantage over the chasing trio.

 

Mas gains ground

When he won the first intermediate sprint with 70km to go, Mas had extended his lead to 3.15. Meanwhile, Van Rensburg made a small attack to take second in the sprint.

 

Suddenly, Orica stopped their work and while Movistar was riding slowly on the front, the gap reached 4.40 With 66km to go, Imanol Erviti upped the pace for the Spanish team before Docker went back to the front to restart Oirca’s work.

 

Mas extends his lead

At the top of the climb, Mas was 1.30 ahead of his nearest chasers while Fumeaux had been brought back. Cousin beat Wyss to pick up another two KOM points.

 

At the bottom of the final climb, Docker had reduced the gap to 4 minutes and as soon as they started to climb, Cameron Meyer took over from his compatriot. Mas won the final intermediate sprint ahead of Van Resnburg but the gap was now melting away.

 

Cancellara is dropped

At the top, Mas was still 3 minutes ahead while the chasers were almost brought back. Wyss narrowly edged out Cousin in the battle for second in the KOM sprints but then the trio sat up and fell back to the peloton in which several riders, including Fabian Cancellara (Trek), were dropped.

 

Mas now decided to wait for the peloton and while Adam Yates and Ivan Santaromita set the pace, he gradually lost his advantage. Lancaster took over from his teammates and with 26km to go he got some assistance from Laurent Mangel (FDJ), indicating that Nacer Bouhanni was feeling good.

 

Mas is caught

With 24km to go, Mas was brought back and just in that moment, Valverde, Adriano Malori and Jonathan Catroviejo hit the deck. The race leader was quickly back on his bike and immediately rejoined the peloton.

 

Docker took over for Lancaster but on a small climb with 13km to go, Adam Hansen (Lotto) launched an attack. The prompted Orica-GreenEDGE to react as Meyer upped the pace significantly.

 

A fight for position

The battle for position had now intensified and with 10km to go, Sky hit the front with Christian Knees and Kanstantsin Siutsou. That spelled the end for Hansen who was brought back.

 

Katusha and Giant-Shimano were now battling for control but it was the Dutch team that won the fight. They got a bit of assistance from OPQS, with Tom Boonen, Pieter Serry both taking big turns, but with 3km to go, Katusha was back in control.

 

Sergey Chernetskiy led the peloton over a narrow bridge before Koen De Kort took over. The Dutchman led the peloton onto the final climb and set the scene for the exciting finale.