Jay Vine faces his downhill trauma and overcomes it with brilliant solo win in Coppi e Bartali

Jay Vine has won the third stage of the Coppi e Bartali. The 29-year-old Australian delivered UAE Team Emirates-XRG its 22nd victory of the season in less than three months, but more importantly, he conquered his own recent struggles. After a string of crashes and injuries, Vine dared to go solo on the final climb, and extended his lead on a wet descent. Magnus Sheffield finished second for INEOS Grenadiers and is the new overall leader.

Stage three of the Italian stage race led from Riccione to Cesena, covering 142.1 kilometers. After Caleb Ewan’s sprint win on day one and Paul Double’s surprise punch on day two, stage three was anyone’s game. Plenty of climbing in a local circuit completed three times, followed by a final climb with gradients over 8 percent. Would climbers, puncheurs, or strong climbing sprinters prevail at the finish?

With the course going up and down from the start, the fight for the breakaway was intense. Pascal Eenkhoorn launched a strong move after 25 kilometers and formed the day’s breakaway. The Dutchman from Soudal Quick-Step was joined by Alexander Konychev (Team Vorarlberg) and Marcel Camprubí (Q36.5). Alex Baudin (EF Education-EasyPost) bridged across after a long chase with 100 kilometers to go.

Read more below the photo.

Breakaway with Eenkhoorn and co caught

The four breakaway riders defended a maximum lead of around three minutes. Since none of the leaders posed a threat to overall leader Double, Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe Rookies took control of the pace in the peloton—and it paid off. The gap dropped below two minutes as the race hit the Sorrivoli climb on the local circuit for the first time. Baudin was already paying the price for his earlier efforts to bridge across and was dropped.

On the second ascent of Sorrivoli, Eenkhoorn attacked solo with 50 kilometers still to go. A bold move, but a necessary one. The peloton was closing in quickly, with Lotto, INEOS, and Jayco-AlUla also taking turns at the front. As they approached the third and final ascent of Sorrivoli, Eenkhoorn was the last of the early break to be reeled in—and the real finale began. One last time up the 1.4-kilometer wall averaging 10.6%, followed by the climb to Diolaguardia (8.5 kilometers at 3.5%).

Read more below the photo.

Vine attacks on final climb

Visma | Lease a Bike and Soudal-Quick Step moved to the front, with Jay Vine of UAE Team Emirates-XRG even daring to attack. He was joined by Mauri Vansevenant of The Wolfpack, and together they reached the base of the final climb. There, Vine dropped the Belgian and shook off Double from the group with a fierce tempo. What followed was a tense cat-and-mouse chase between Vine and the peloton during a wet descent. The Australian, never known for his descending skills, impressively managed to stay out front.

What had been a 6-second gap at the top of the climb grew to 18 seconds with three kilometers to go. Vine not only held off the peloton but also conquered his personal demons from recent years. After so many crashes and criticism of his bike handling, he could finally raise his arms in victory on stage three of Coppi e Bartali. Magnus Sheffield came in second for INEOS and takes over the overall lead.

Result stage 3 Coppi e Bartali 2025

Read also

UAE and Pogacar are not only focusing on Vingegaard for the Tour: "Maybe it’s just Remco this year"

Faster than Pogacar and van der Poel on the Poggio!? Giro d'Italia can't ignore well-prepared Pidcock says Q36.5

Lance Armstrong watched in amazement at Mathieu van der Poel: "Did you see his face at that moment?"

Subscribe to our Newsletter

Get every week the latest news about CYCLING in your inbox!

Subscribe