Del Grosso and Alpecin-Deceuninck survive tough test in Turkey but watch XDS-Astana take the win

Stage 3 of the week covered 175.9 kilometers from Fethiye to Marmaris. Alpecin-Deceuninck had dominated the opening two days, with Simon Dehairs sprinting to victory on day one and Tibor Del Grosso taking an impressive stage win on Monday. The young rider started stage 3 wearing the leader’s jersey.

After a fierce battle for a spot in the day’s breakaway, seven riders managed to get clear. Vadim Pronskiy (Terengganu), Konrad Czabok (Masowsze), Willie Smit (China Glory), Even Yemane (Istanbul), Dogukan Arikan and Mustafa Tekin (Spor Toto), and Burak Abay (Konya) built up a maximum lead of four minutes.

With Alpecin-Deceuninck leading the bunch as expected, the gap to the breakaway slowly but surely began to shrink inside the final 100 kilometers. With help from Team Flanders-Baloise, the break’s advantage was down to just over two minutes with 70 kilometers to go. As the peloton approached the base of the Mountain Prime (1.8 kilometers at an average of 9.8 percent), the pace exploded and the breakaway was caught in no time.

The Mountain Prime was tackled three times in total, twice from the less steep side (3.1 kilometers at 6.6 percent average gradient) and once from the brutally steep side deep in the finale. It was on that steep ascent that Del Grosso really came under pressure. Lander Loockx of Unibet Tietema Rockets briefly split the race with a group of five, but Alpecin-Deceuninck managed to pull it back together. Del Grosso even launched an aggressive move of his own afterward.

After two of the three climbs, the race settled down again, giving a few riders the chance to attack. Victor Vaneeckhoutte (Lotto Development Team) and Jonas Geens (Team Flanders-Baloise) broke clear heading toward the final climb, with Geens briefly going solo. Andreas Kron (Uno-X) and Giovanni Carboni (Unibet Tietema Rockets) also tried their luck, but the peloton kept them within reach.

After a fast descent, a reduced bunch headed for a sprint. Alpecin-Deceuninck set the pace and Lander Loockx hoped to take the win, but it was the Russian Lev Gonov who surprised everyone and raised his arms at the line. Del Grosso keeps the leader’s jersey.