After being runner-up twice, UAE Team Emirates finally wins in Asturias: Covi fastest in third stage

The first two days of the Tour of Asturias were somewhat chaotic. Steff Cras beautifully won stage one. The Belgian from TotalEnergies beat Marc Soler and took the leader's jersey but lost it in the second stage. He crashed badly and had to abandon the race while in the lead. Soler took advantage of the leader's jersey, while Ivan Garcia Cortina took the stage win.

The third stage was characterized by a strong breakaway group, including Gonzalo Serrano (Movistar), António Morgado (UAE Team Emirates—XRG), and Matteo Vercher. The latter Frenchman won his first race last week and was looking for his second victory. He did so together with six fellow breakaway riders, who, however, never really got much space from the peloton. The lead, which was about three minutes at the halfway point, slowly but surely decreased.

With 30 kilometers to go, the peloton was still 1 minute and 40 seconds behind. Whereas the breakaway riders still had the advantage in the hilly middle phase, the peloton could set the pace. Right? Well, nothing could be further from the truth. The seven riders upped the tempo and gained almost a minute in 10 kilometers. It became an exciting battle between the early breakaway riders and the peloton.

The peloton quickly closed the gap in the final kilometers, and it would only become clear at the end whether the breakaway group would make it or whether the sprinters would battle for the stage win. It turned out to be the latter: the seven riders were caught. Alessandro Covi was ultimately the fastest in the sprint and finally took the victory for UAE Team Emirates after finishing second on the previous two days.