MILAN

Saudi Tour – Soren Waerenskjold the 3rd stage, Jonathan Milan 2nd and leader

Soren Waerenskjold (Uno-X Pro Cycling Team) won this Wednesday the 3rd stage of the Saudi tour, whose arrival was judged at Abu Rakah, at the top of an irregular but steep climb in places! The 22-year-old Norwegian, Espoirs world champion in the time trial in 2022, won all in power after a sprint disputed in a small committee. Jonathan Milano (Bahrain Victorious) and Cees Bol (Astana Qazaqstan Team) finished second and third respectively, while Simone Consoni (ITA / Cofidis) and Ruben Guerreiro (POR / Movistar Team) completed the top 5. Beaten by Waerenskjold, Milano is still one of the big winners of the day since he seizes the green jersey of leader of the general classification to the detriment of Dylan Groenewegen (Team Jayco AlUla), absent from the final.

Video – Soren Waerenskjold offers himself the 3rd stage of the Saudi Tour

A breakaway made up of five riders, the peloton in management

159.2 kilometers are to be covered during this 3rd stage of the Saudi tour, the first supposedly decisive for the general classification. But before the big names explain themselves in the final, a breakaway of five riders is formed from the start of the race. In this quintet, we find Txomin Juaristi (ESP / Euskaltel-Euskadi), Julian Masotto (ITA / Team Corratec), Antonio Barac (CRO / Corratec Team), Masaki Yamamoto (JAP / JLC Team UKYO) and Azzam Alabdulmounim (SAU / Saudi Arabia selection). The peloton let this breakaway go by at first – the gap will exceed 7 minutes – then several teams put themselves on the board, including Cofidis, Team BikeExchange-Jayco and Bahrain Victorious. Inevitably, the leading men’s lead diminishes, and with 70 kilometers to go, it is no more than 5 minutes.

Peloton grouped 35 miles from goal, Soren Waerenskjold the strongest in Abu Rakah

3′ at 60 terminals, 1′ about ten kilometers further… the return of the peloton is quite fast, the multiple accelerations linked to the wind having their effect. Last survivor of the morning breakaway, Txomin Juaristi is resumed just after the bonus sprint, located 35 kilometers from the finish. During the latter, two of the favorites for the general classification, the Portuguese Ruben Guerreiro (Movistar Team) and the Austrian Felix Grossschartner (BORA-hansgrohe), gain respectively 2 and 1 bonus seconds.

About forty minutes later, the peloton – in which one of the favorites of the day, the South African Ryan Gibbons (UAE Team Emirates), victim of a mechanical problem at 3 terminals from the goal – arrived grouped at the foot of the final ramp. Attacked more than 1 kilometer from the finish, Zdenek Stybar (Team Jayco AlUla) and Santiago Buitrago (Bahrain Victorious) are taken back, and it is finally a sprint between strong men who concluded this 3rd stage. Feeling tough, Jonathan Milano (Bahrain Victorious) launches from very far and takes an option on victory, but he gets stuck a little in the last 50 meters and is overtaken by Soren Waerenskjoldthe Norwegian team Uno-X Professional Cycling Team. Like the day before, Cees Bol (Astana Qazaqstan Team) completed the podium.

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