Late attack foils the fast men’s plans in Argentina.
The Vuelta a San Juan returned on the Autodromo del Villicum, for the start and finish of stage 3, which was – on paper, at least – ideally designed for the sprinters. For that very reason, a bunch of teams, including Soudal Quick-Step, worked together soon after an eight-man breakaway took shape, keeping the gap around the five-minute mark for the first part of the day before gradually increasing the tempo and reducing the escapees’ margin.
Remco Evenepoel once again moved to the head of the peloton with three kilometers to go, pushing an insane tempo that stretched the field and prevented any attacks, but just as the World Champion peeled off the front ahead of the flamme rouge, one rider took off and destabilized the sprint trains. This allowed him to get the win, just a few seconds clear of the chasers – a mix of fast men and Classics riders.
Yves Lampaert came across the line as the highest-ranked Soudal Quick-Step rider, in eighth place, while Fabio Jakobsen – even though he couldn’t get involved in the fight for the podium – retained his second place on the general classification, which remained more or less unchanged ahead of Wednesday’s stage, one that will feature a first-category climb taking the riders to an altitude of more than 2200 meters.
Photo credit: ©Maximiliano Blanco / Getty Images
