Derek Gee moves up to fourth on Tirreno-Adriatico GC after wretched stage
Hugo Houle abandons on cold, rainy day in Tuscany
One of the challenges of the early season road campaign is the weather. Wednesday’s third stage of Tirreno-Adriatico and fourth stage of Paris-Nice were raced on a miserable, cold, wet European day, the latter neutralized on and off due to hail and other inclement conditions. In Italy, the resilient peloton persevered, Andrea Vendrame taking the sodden victory and Filippo Ganna keeping the blue leader’s jersey. It’s the first time in 22 years Italians have won the first three stages. Derek Gee finished in the reduced peloton to move up two spots on GC to fourth.
The Situation
Opening time trial victor Ganna still led the race after Jonathan Milan’s Stage 2 sprint triumph, with Juan Ayuso lurking +0:22, Antonio “Cat Hater” Tiberi +0:29, Gee +0:34 and Mexican sensation Isaac del Toro +0:38.
The Course
Stage 3 crossed Tuscany west to east. The almost-summit finish was long at 18.3 km but mild in gradient at 3 percent. The finish line in Colfiorito was actually 4.5 km past the peak.
As the rain made everyone miserable, a breakaway duo flared out and was caught by the midway point of 239 km. Just after his teammate Pascal Ackermann abandoned, Hugo Houle crashed and had to climb off the bike. Despite having brought back the fugitives, the peloton wasn’t exactly cracking on.
Dries De Bondt was chilled to the bone and tried to encourage the peloton to increase its speed.
After the intermediate sprint De Bondt attacked with Andrea Pietrobon. With 39 km to go, the lead was 3:30. Ineos raced with intent, so the gap plummeted and the digs started on the long Valico di Colfiorito climb. Ayuso’s attack spelled the end of Pietrobon’s grand day out. EF Education-Easypost duo Ben Healy and Richard Carapaz were interested in digs as well. Mathieu van der Poel’s participation in the action created a split in the peloton and De Bondt’s demise.
Ganna tried to drop the others, eliciting reactions from Tom Pidcock and van der Poel. Ayuso pulled the reduced peloton towards the finish line. Vendrame responded to two Dutch fellows opening the sprint early and took the win. The peloton reformed so that 50 riders including Gee finished on the same time
2025 Tirreno-Adriatico Stage 3
1) Andrea Vendrame (Italy/Decathlon-AG2R) 6:28:25
2) Tom Pidcock (Great Britain/Q36.5) s.t.
3) Romain Grégoire (France/Groupama-FDJ s.t.
24) Derek Gee (Canada/Israel-Premier Tech) s.t.
2025 Tirreno-Adriatico GC
1) Filippo Ganna (Italy/Ineos) 11:25:55
2) Juan Ayuso (Spain/UAE-Emirates) +0:22
3) Antonio Tiberi (Italy/Bahrain-Victorious) +0:29
4) Derek Gee (Canada/Israel-Premier Tech) +0:34