Discover the Stage 3 highlights
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#TheAlUlaTour
More exclusive contents on Tour de France Club : https://www.letour.fr/fr/club
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SportsTranscript
00:00It was a long time coming, so it wasn't like a, yeah, a big moment.
00:11I felt a big weight off my shoulders, a big sense of relief, a big sense of freedom.
00:17Stage wins or GC this week?
00:19Yeah, both.
00:20They were coming together, I think.
00:22Mica starts to turn the pressure.
00:25Pitcock seems to be still in control of this race.
00:30And here goes the attack.
00:31All the pressure, all the stress, all those moments where Pitcock wasn't believed in,
00:37he has now put it all on the pedals.
00:39He's answered every single question.
00:47Tom Pitcock seized control of the Alula Tour yesterday with a brilliant showing on Bir
00:51Jaya the mountain.
00:52But can he keep hold of that green jersey until the end of the race?
00:57Well, we probably won't find out today because this is another one for the sprinters.
01:01We're heading from the UNESCO World Heritage site of Hegra to the Tamer Fjords.
01:06Tim Moliere looked supreme on stage one, but plenty of other fast men are going to be trying
01:11to deny him a second stage win today.
01:14And the wind could also be a major factor.
01:17The exposed roads in this region lend themselves to the possibility of echelons and there are
01:22crosswinds forecast in the final as the peloton head north to Tamer Fjords.
01:29The finish is also extremely technical with several twists and turns.
01:34Decidedly, this is a stage where anything is possible.
01:47The wind coming from the east this morning at around 18 kilometers an hour, which meant
01:52the peloton were driving into a headwind.
01:55The early average speed was consequently quite low, around 35 km an hour for the first hour
02:00as seven men got into the breakaway.
02:03Hugo Asnar of Kern Farmer, Javier Ibanez of Cajal Rural, Yumako Ishii and Masaaki Yamamoto
02:10from JCF.
02:11Javier Ibanez of Cajal Rural, Yumako Ishii and Masaaki Yamamoto from JCL Team Yukio,
02:18Andreas Miltiades and Kane Richards of Rujai Insurance and Jens Reinders of Wagner Bazar.
02:25They didn't eke out much of a gap though, just over a minute and a half clear of the
02:28peloton.
02:32Well, by this point, the riders had turned left and were heading north into the crosswinds
02:36and there's always tension in the bunch in these wide open stages.
02:40A few men coming down at the back of the pack, but apparently no major damage done.
02:45Well, Reinders, meanwhile, had taken the virtual lead in the most active rider competition,
02:50picking up six points at the first two sprints.
02:53The Belgian now six points ahead of the overnight leader, Ayman Rosli.
02:58And Asnar, who was so impressive in yesterday's uphill finish, was the virtual race leader.
03:03The Spaniard finished in ninth place, 30 seconds down on Tom Pidcock.
03:07And speaking of the British rider, he was safely ensconced back in the peloton.
03:11However, with just over 70 kilometres to go, a couple of teams decided to test everybody's
03:16legs in the crosswinds and see if there was a possibility of splitting the race.
03:21Soudal Quick step up towards the front and they certainly caused a bit of panic.
03:26But ultimately, there wasn't quite enough wind to really blow things apart.
03:29And after a few kilometres, it all settled down again.
03:34Here comes the sprint.
03:38Renders now opens up the gas, goes to the left hand side.
03:42Big acceleration, drag race between these two sprinters.
03:46Three more points for Reinders at this bonus sprint as he tightened his grip on the orange
03:50jersey.
03:51A nine point lead now over Rosli and job done for the Wagner Bazan rider.
03:56Well, the breakaway riders continuing to plug away, but it's never easy on these long, straight
04:01roads.
04:02And the peloton always had them in their sights.
04:06A couple of men eventually dropping back to the main bunch.
04:10First it was Yamamoto.
04:12And then the Cypriot champion, Miltiadis.
04:17So five men leading the way into the final part of this stage, but the gap was always
04:21coming down.
04:22The peloton pulling to within 30 seconds as the sprint teams began to get organised.
04:28And with 35 kilometres to go, Tudor Pro Cycling made their move.
04:33Now there's a big acceleration.
04:35Tudor Pro Cycling have decided, let's rumble this up a little bit.
04:41Well this time the damage was done as the race shattered into several groups.
04:45Rafael Mica was one of the men to be caught out.
04:47The pole set to lose even more time after his stage one crash.
04:51And more importantly for the GC battle, Eddie Dunbar was also left behind.
04:56The man who began the day fourth overall, 28 seconds down on Pidcock.
05:00It was a big blow this to Jacob Alula's hopes, although they did have third place
05:04Alan Hatherley up at the fronts.
05:07As far as the stage favourites were concerned, Tim Moliere and Dylan Groenewegen were both
05:11in the leading group as well, along with Fabio Jakobsen.
05:15In fact, his picnic Postonelle team had another dig with 22km to go, really putting the hammer
05:20down.
05:21Arvid de Klein and Tudor were now right at the back of the bunch, but they held on.
05:26Plenty of contenders then for this final sprint.
05:31In the final 10km the pace dropped slightly in the front group and it looked for a moment
05:35like the chasers might catch up again.
05:38But a few sporting directors obviously had a word on the radio and they sped up, hurtling
05:42their way into Tamer Forts.
05:45The Dunbar group would never make the catch and it was over to Moliere and co for a reduced
05:49bunch sprint.
05:55The green jersey has got a problem.
05:58No stress for Pidcock, his issue came in the last 3km, so he would be credited with the
06:02same time as the winner.
06:47Two sprints and two victories for Tim Moliere, who has shown that he is the fastest man at
07:03this Alula Tour.
07:04In the end it was a mano a mano with Groenewegen and the European champion got there comfortably
07:09to notch his 52nd career win.
07:12He's on course to take home another red jersey.
07:36Moliere winning ahead of Groenewegen with Milano, Muschietti and Barbier completing
07:40the top 5.
07:42The first chase group lost around 20 seconds, with Dunbar shipping over a minute.
07:47Despite his late mechanical, Pidcock remains our race leader by 8 seconds from Rainer Keplinger.
07:53Dunbar and Stefan de Bod drop out of the top 10 after getting dropped in the crosswinds.
07:57Moliere reclaims the red jersey from Pidcock.
08:00He is now 9 points clear of Milano, with Groenewegen in third.
08:04Odney Halter still leads the youth classification by 4 seconds from Frank van den Broeck.
08:10And Reinders now has a decent lead over Rossly in the most active rider competition.
08:15Join us again on Friday for the Queen stage of this Alula Tour to the sky views of Harata
08:20Wairid and thanks for watching.