LA VUELTA 2025 | STAGE 3 | SAN MAURIZIO CANAVESE > CERES
The third and final fully Italian stage of La Vuelta 25 crowned a third different rider, with a third different scenario, and yet another thrilling finale. En route to the uphill finish of Ceres, Mads Pedersen’s Lidl-Trek gave it their all to lead the Dane to victory but they had to settle for 2nd (the same result Giulio Ciccone got on day 2 in Limone Piemonte) as David Gaudu (Groupama-FDJ) managed to surge past the day’s main favourite in the very final metres. On the day after he rose to power, Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike) took 3rd place on the day to narrowly retain La Roja. Gaudu is level on time with the Dane, who leads the overall standings on the addition of placings (45 for Vingegaard, 53 for Gaudu). The French climber takes his first UCI WorldTour victory since he got the better of Wout van Aert in a similar finale of the Critérium du Dauphiné 2022. This is also his third stage win at La Vuelta, after two successes in 2020.
From Jasper Philipsen in Novara to Jonas Vingegaard in Limone Piemonte, the first two stages of La Vuelta have delivered contrasting results, with top contenders taking the prizes on both occasions. Who will follow their track on stage 3? The riders face another uphill finish in Ceres, atop a cat.-4 ascent, after 134.6 km of racing from San Maurizio Canavese, featuring almost 2,000 metres of elevation.
Attackers vs Lidl-Trek
Attackers are inspired but Mads Pedersen’s Lidl-Trek control the formation of the breakaway. Wearing the polka-dot jersey on behalf of Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike), who enjoys his first day with La Roja, Alessandro Verre (Arkéa-B&B Hotels) makes the break with Sean Quinn (EF Education-EasyPost), Luva Van Boven (Intermarché-Wanty), and Patrick Gamper (Jayco AlUla).
Daan Hoole is the first rider from Lidl-Trek tasked with controlling the gap, en route to the main climb of the day, the cat.-2 ascent of Issiglio (summit at km 65.8). At the bottom of the climb, the peloton trail by 2’25’’. The gap will slightly increase (+2’30’’, the maximum for the day) on the ascent before Amanuel Ghebreigzabhier takes over from Hoole.
Verre and Quinn on Bernal’s roads
Chasing the KOM points to regain the lead of the standings, Verre sets a strong pace on the climb. Gamper and Van Boven are rapidly dropped. Quinn hangs on until the summit, where Verre takes 5 points and the lead of the KOM standings. The peloton trail by 2 minutes.
Some 15 kilometres further into the stage, Quinn goes first at the intermediate sprint in Cuorgnè (km 78.5), where Egan Bernal (Ineos Grenadiers) is an honorary citizen. The Colombian lived and trained there when he began his professional career with Androni Giocatolli, in 2016.
Gaudu punches harder than Pedersen
The terrain is rolling, and the pace set by Ghebreigzabhier with the support of Carlos Verona leads to splits in the peloton. Jasper Philipsen is among the riders struggling to keep up.
At the front, Quinn goes solo with 39 km to go. He is 55’’ away from the bunch. The former US national champion, making his return to the highest level of competition after a season marked by a knee injury, pushes on. He’s eventually reeled in with 19 km to go.
A packed bunch flies towards the uphill finale, with Lidl-Trek and Visma-Lease a Bike setting a brutal pace on the ascent (2.6km at 3.6%). Pedersen is at the front to take the final turn, with 50 metres to go… But David Gaudu (Groupama-FDJ) manages to surge past him, taking his 3rd La Vuelta stage win after previous successes at La Farrapona and La Covatilla in 2020. Jonas Vingegaard completes the podium of the stage to retain La Roja, despite Gaudu drawing level with him on time.
Stage 3
- David Gaudu (Groupama-FDJ) 2h59’24”
- Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek) +00”
- Jonas Vingegaard (Team Visma | Lease a Bike) +00”
GC
- Jonas Vingegaard (Team Visma | Lease a Bike) 10h55’36”
- David Gaudu (Groupama-FDJ) +0’00”
- Giulio Ciccone (Lidl-Trek) +0’08”
