La Vuelta Ciclista a España. Stage 3. Calm day with explosive final
Despite a serious climb in the first half of the distance, the stage, mostly, went calm and only in the final it became quite explosive and nervous.
"In general, we have spent a good and calm day as the first big climb we passed without any problem. We worked well as a team during the whole day. At the last climb the pace of the group increased dramatically and there was some tension in the peloton, especially on the descent to the finish. But, finally, a quite big group came to the finish line, so, everything went ok," explained Pello Bilbao.
Stage 3 of the Spanish Grand tour started in Mijas and finished in Alhauírin de la Torre (178,2 km). On the profile the stage did not look really friendly to the sprinters, but, in the end of the day it was all about sprint, won by the Italian Champion Elia Viviani. Astana's leader Miguel Angel Lopez as well as Pello Bilbao, Davide Villella and Andrey Zeits all finished inside the main group, Astana Pro Team official website reads.
The stage results did not produce any serious change in the general classification of the Vuelta a España: Michal Kwiatkowski still leads the race as Pello Bilbao and Miguel Angel Lopez are at 21st and 25th places.
Stage 4 of the race will be held tomorrow and it will be the first real test for GC riders: 161,4 km from Vélez-Málaga to the top of the first category climb Puerto de Alfacar.
