For the third time this season, Dutchman Taco van der Hoorn joined the breakaway of the day, enabling Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert Matériaux to be represented in the front of the third stage of the Tirreno-Adriatico (2.UWT) this Wednesday.
In this stage suited for sprinters, the teammates of van der Hoorn could entirely concentrate their efforts on the protection of Norwegian rider Alexander Kristoff. The other teams interested in a bunch sprint worked to catch the five riders with 47 kilometer to go.
Despite an acceleration of several favorites for the general classification after the intermediate sprint in Amelia, a complete peloton approached the finish in Terni. The technical final with a sprint on cobblestones caused, just like the day before, an atypical sprint, in which Alexander Kristoff couldn’t really participate. He finished fourteenth after four hours of racing.
Now I’m back racing in Italy, I realize that the tifosi didn’t forget my performance in the latest Giro d’Italia yet. Also for myself, this first participation in the Tirreno-Adriatico evokes beautiful memories, thanks to the stunning sceneries and the relaxed atmosphere before the start of the stages. In my eyes today’s stage suited a long breakaway, so in order to chase my second succes on Italian soil I attacked right after the start. In the end, my breakaway companions were more interested in the mountain prizes and the peloton wouldn’t really give us a lot of freedom. When I realized that, I started focusing on helping Alexander Kristoff’s sprint train. So finally it was a productive day for me!
