The field missed out on fighting for victory again at the World Tour race.
Everything pointed to a fight between the pre-race favourites at the end of the third stage, but the breakaway prevailed for the second time in three days, despite the fact that at one point, with just 20 kilometers to go, the last survivor of the day’s move had only eleven seconds ahead of the chasers.
The punchy finish in Heiden, where the race returned after eleven years, was a good chance for the GC men to make up ground in the standings following Sunday’s awkward stage that ended up complicated things, but they were left to fight for the minor places on the podium after Quinn Simmons (Lidl-Trek) managed to hold off the peloton and take the victory.
Ilan Van Wilder was very active in the closing part of the stage, as the Belgian tried several times to go on attack, at first alone and then with a small group, but the bunch came back and kept things together. Eventually, he concluded as the first Soudal Quick-Step rider in the standings and made a jump of four places in the rankings.
Photo credit: ©Tim De Waele / Getty Images
