Kristof Vandewalle joined the key breakaway of the 172.5-kilometer stage three Thursday, attacking with two others at the eight-kilometer mark, and his effort garnered him a trip to the podium at stage end for the Prix de la Combativité (Combative Prize).

Riccardo Zoidl also safely guarded his position in the overall arriving with a reduced peloton that contested the sprint ending for a second straight day. Michael Albasini (Orica GreenEdge) snagged another win and padded his lead in the overall as he easily outkicked what fast legs remained.

The stage started fast with the breakaway trio swapping even pulls; they quickly gained time on a lackadaisical peloton who let them take upwards of eight minutes in less than 10 kilometers. However, that was the most the Vandewalle group were gifted as the peloton came to its senses and began to slowly gnaw away at the gap.

“We went immediately with three guys; it was a hard day with just three and the bunch did not really let us go. At first they gave us eight minutes but it was obvious they wanted to make it a hard race,” said Vandewalle to TFR.com. “I had a really good feeling today, but, okay, it was not like we ever thought for one moment we would go to the finish.”

There are no true sprint stages in the Tour de Romandie. The profiles of the five road stages display a long run of spiky peaks and the “flattest” - the fourth stage Friday - still boasts over 1700 meters (5,500 feet) of climbing.

Today’s stage featured a quick succession of two category-two-rated climbs beginning at kilometer 110 and Movistar led a blistering pace up both. It shredded the peloton and rapidly sliced into the lead of the breakaway.

The back-to-back climbs raced at Mach speed proved too difficult for the pure sprinters and Giacomo Nizzolo will have to wait one more day to hopefully feature in a mad dash for the line.

Out front, Kristof Vandewalle held strong, successfully cresting the first col, cooly navigating the descent and climbing into the second col as his two breakaway companions fell off his pace.  However, he knew the catch was inevitable: half way up the second climb with just over 48 kilometers to go he was finally swept up by the Movistar-led peloton.

“When I was caught on the climb I saw that Riccardo was having a hard moment so I tried to motivate him. I went over the climb in the second group, but we came back, and then I also tried to give him a hand to stay in the front because he was a little too far back in the bunch. For the last climb I brought him to the front, and once we were over that it was pretty easy to make it to the finish with the front group,” Vandewalle said.

It was a good display of teamwork by Kristof Vandewalle, and his strong effort in the breakaway landed him the Combative Prize for the third stage, a welcomed boost of morale ahead of the Giro d’Italia:

“It’s also nice to get the recognition on the podium. Before this race, I already had good feeling in my legs and this week I am trying to do some big efforts to be ready for the Giro [d’Italia]. Today was an effort and in the end I could also help the team so it was a good day for me and for the team.”