Wout Poels (Sky) confirmed his huge potential when he took an impressive solo win in the first hilly stage of Tirreno-Adriatico. Having launched a big attack over the top of the Crispiero climb, he managed to distance all the favourites and he held off his chasers on the 6km descent to take both the stage win and the leader’s jersey.

 

A few years ago Wout Poels was regarded as a future grand tour star, most notably after he shone in the 2011 Vuelta a Espana. Less than one year later, however, it seemed that his career was over when he suffered bad injuries in a horrific crash at the Tour de France.

 

Poels was determined not to give up and he fought his way back to the peloton. He used the 2013 season to gradually find his place in the peloton and last year he was better than ever when he won the queen stage of the Vuelta al Pais Vasco and rode an amazing Giro d’Italia in support of Rigoberto Uran.

 

This year he has joined the Sky team where he is expected to be a key support rider for Chris Froome in the mountains. That was the role he was expected to play in Tirreno-Adriatico but when the team leader had to withdraw due to illness, Poels suddenly was allowed to play his own card.

 

Today he capitalized maximally on that opportunity when he took a hugely impressive solo win in the first hilly stage of the 7-day race. With a big attack on the Crispiero climb, he distanced all the major stars and with a great descending performance, he held off his chasers to win the stage.

 

The riders went up the 3km climb twice in the finale and when they hit the bottom for the final time with 9km to go, Tinkoff-Saxo had just brought back a strong attack. As soon as the road started to ramp upwards, Ag2r tightened the screws with Matteo Montaguti setting a fast pace.

 

The Italian started a gradual selection before his teammate Alexis Vuillermoz took over. The Frenchman upped the pace a notch and this diminished the group significantly.

 

One of the riders who had to give up was race leader Greg van Avermaet (BMC) who lost contact with 7km to go. At the same time, Peter Sagan (Tinkoff-Saxo) also had to admit defeat alongside several great climbers.

 

For the main riders, it was a waiting game and so it was Giampaolo Caruso (Katusha) who launched the first attack less than a kilometre from the top. Domenico Pozzovivo (Ag2r) tried to follow him but when the Italian cracked, the Katusha rider seemed to ride away with the win.

 

However, Poels had different plan and he made his move just moments later. He flew past the fading Caruso and crested the summit as the lone leader.

 

He now faced a technical 6.25km descent to the finish in Castelraimondo and he was up against a strong Katusha team who had strength in numbers in the chase group. The Russian team rode hard on the front but they never got any closer to the lone Dutchman who held on to take the first win in Sky colours. 14 seconds later Rigoberto Uran (Etixx-QuickStep) beat Joaquim Rodriguez (Katusha) in the sprint for second.

 

With the win, Poels also takes the leader’s jersey and he goes into tomorrow’s queen stage with a 17-second advantage over Uran. However, it will be a difficult task to defend his position on a stage that has two difficult climbs in the first part before a long flat section leads to the bottom of the Monte Terminillo whose 16.1km with an average gradient of 7.3% will sort the best from the rest.

 

A hilly stage

After three days in flat terrain, the riders finally reached the hills on stage 3 which brought them over a massive 226km from Indicatore to Arezzo. After a flat start with just a small climb in the first part, the riders hit the Poggio San Romualdo at the midpoint before an undulating section led to the tricky finale where the riders went up the 3km Crispiero climb two times inside the final 20km. After the final passage, just 6.25 of technical descending remained.

 

The riders took the start under a partly sunny sky, with an injured Svein Tuft (Orica-GreenEDGE) being the only non-starter. As one could expect in this kind of hilly stage, the race got off to a very fast start with lots of attacks and after 5km, no one had managed to escape.

 

Hayman attacks

Mathew Hayman (Orica-GreenEDGE) and Perrig Quemeneur (Europcar) were the first to get a small advantage and they were joined by Ian Stannard (Sky). They fought hard to get a gap and after 12km of racing, they were 12 seconds ahead.

 

More riders attacked and Vuillermoz, Paul Voss (Bora Argon 18), Reinardt van Rensburg (Giant-Alpecin) and Markel Irizar (Trek) were among the riders in a 10-rider group that formed. At this point, the peloton was 27 seconds behind but when they reached the first small climb, everything came back together.

 

Hayman and Durbridge take off

Stefano Pirazzi (Bardiani) was the next to attack and he was the first to crest the summit followed by Montaguti, Carlos Quintero (Colombia) and Matthias Brändle (IAM). At the 16km mark, however, everything was back together.

 

Hayman refused to give up and he attacked again with his teammate Luke Durbridge. The peloton was content with that situation and they slowed down, allowing the gap to reach 5.33 at the 25km mark.

 

BMC take control

The gap continued to grow and after an hour of racing, it was 8.25. BMC now took control of the situation and brought the gap down to less than 8 minutes. At the 54km mark, the gap was 7.35.

 

The gap was brought down to 7 minutes where BMC kept it stable for a while. Meanwhile, Hayman led Durbridge across the line in the first intermediate sprint where the advantage was 6.35.

 

Bongiorno abandons

Manuel Bongiorno (Bardiani) left the race while BMC continued to chase and after three hours of racing, the gap was only 5 minutes. That was the signal for the attackers to up the pace and when Durbridge led Hayman across the line in the second intermediate sprint, the gap was 6.16. Van Avermaet won the sprint for third.

 

The gap went back up to 7.15 as the riders started to climb the Poggio San Romualdo. Here Nathan Haas (Cannondale-Garmin) made a brave solo attempt to bridge across and as they neared the summit Danilo Wyss (BMC), Quintero and Miguel Rubiano (Colombia) also attacked in a quest to take KOM points. Haas took third ahead of Quintero, Walter Pedraza (Colombia), Rubiano and Manuel Quinziato (BMC) as there were no points for Wyss.

 

Contador goes down

The group with Colombia riders were caught by the peloton which was 6.32 behind at the top. Meanwhile, disaster struck in the front group as both riders went down on the descent and Durbridge had to stop to get a new bike.

 

The two riders found back together and were still 6.09 ahead. At this point, Alberto Contador (Tinkoff-Saxo) also went down but he was quickly back on his bike.

 

Bad luck for Cancellara

BMC started to chase a lot harder, first with Marcus Burghardt and Manuel Quinziato and later also with Daniel Oss. This had a big effect on the gap which was down to 5.20 with 45km to go.

 

At this point, Fabian Cancellara (Trek) had a puncture and he had to work hard to rejoin the peloton. Meanwhile, BMC continued their fast riding and as Brent Bookwalter also started to chase, the gap was just 4.15 with 37km to go.

 

Vicioso attacks

With 28km to go, the gap was down to just 3.20 and now Durbridge finished his work, leaving it to Hayman to press on. While Vasil Kiryienka and Salvatore Puccio (both Sky) had very untimely punctures, the fight for position had started and this caused the pace to go up. With 22km to go, the gap was just 2 minutes and as Hayman hit the climb, he lost time at a very quick rate.

 

Durbridge was the first to get caught before Fabian Cancellara upped the pace to set Julian Arredondo (Trek) up for an attack. However, Angel Vicioso (Kausha) anticipated the move and he was passed joined by the Colombian. However, Astana brought it back.

 

Visconti makes his move

Giovanni Visconti (Movistar) made the next move and he was joined by Michele Scarponi (Astana) and Arredondo. The trio passed Hayman who was caught by the peloton.

 

Tinkoff-Saxo had now taken control of the peloton, with Ivan Basso doing a huge amount of work. At the top of the climb, they were 15 seconds behind the leaders, with Visconti leading Scarponi and Arredondo over the top.

 

Daniel Moreno (Katusha) attacked an on the descent, he managed to bridge across to the leaders. The quartet worked well together while Basson continued to chase in the peloton. With 11km to go, the gap was only 4 seconds and moments later it was all back together for the final climb where the exciting finale started.