Michael Woods took the stage three win and the race lead at Tirreno-Adriatico 2020 after going clear on the final climb of the day, eventually beating Rafał Majka, who bridged the gap, in a two-up sprint.
Woods (EF Pro Cycling) showed that he has exceptional form as he targets the World Championships in Imola in a few week's time, breaking clear of the GC contenders on the steep slopes of the final climb inside the final 8km.
Majka (Bora-Hansgrohe) did manage to bridge across to the solo Woods, with the pursuing group not able to organise enough to pull them back. In the final two-up sprint, Majka just lost concentration in the final 150 metres with Woods able to kick past him and push to the line unchallenged.
The Canadian now holds the overall lead by five seconds over Majka in second, with Wilco Kelderman (Sunweb) in third at 26 seconds and Geraint Thomas (Ineos) in fifth at 30 seconds.
How it happened
The riders started in the town of Follonica and finished in Saturnia over a very hilly 217km course, making stage three the longest stage of this year's race.
A strong eight-man break went away early doors and got a maximum gap of just over seven minutes but eventually settled around three and a half minutes.
Get The Leadout Newsletter
The latest race content, interviews, features, reviews and expert buying guides, direct to your inbox!
The break was made up of Hermann Pernsteiner (Bahrain-McLaren), Nathan Van Hooydonck (CCC Team), Benjamin Thomas (Groupama-FDJ), Matt Holmes (Lotto-Soudal), Alessandro Tonelli (Bardiani-CSF-Faizanè), Marco Frapporti (Vini Zabù-KTM), Pascal Eenkhoorn (Jumbo-Visma) and Dimitri Claeys (Cofidis).
The peloton took in a very difficult climb twice during the stage in the shape of the Poggio Murella; this climb has been renamed the Muro del Pirata as Marco Pantani once lived on the climb.
On the first passage of the climb the break was paced up by Holmes until Thomas pushed the pace and went clear, continuing his tempo over the top with 70km to go and pulled out a maximum gap over 1-10 over the rest of the break.
Ineos Grenadiers set the early tempo in the peloton but it was EF Pro Cycling who really turned up the tempo, bringing the gap down very quickly.
Thomas was losing time to the rest of the break and decided to sit up and drop back to the other riders with 40km to go as Tonelli lost touch. 14km later Thomas was also dropped by the leaders.
Frapporti used the descent before the Poggio Murella to kick on and leave the rest of the break behind, pulling out a 20 second lead over the chasers and 1-17 to the peloton who were closing rapidly.
Frapporti was then brought back by Holmes, Eenkhoorn and Pernsteiner at the bottom of the Poggio Murella with Holmes pushing the pace.
Behind, Florian Sénéchal (Deceuninck - Quick-Step) attacked early to try and spring a surprise on the peloton but he was slowly brought back by the peloton along with Pernsteiner, leaving Holmes up the road on his own.
Holmes was finally caught with 8km to go as Michael Woods led the peloton up the climb ahead of Geraint Thomas, Jakob Fuglsang (Astana), Aleksandr Vlasov (Astana), and Wilco Kelderman going clear.
Woods then kicked on as they crested the steepest gradient as he pushed clear.
Fausto Masnada (Deceuninck - Quick-Step), Simon Yates (Mitchelton-Scott), Jack Haig (Mitchelton-Scott) and Rafał Majka made it back to the chasing riders just behind Woods.
Majka attacked over the top and bridged across very quickly as yet more riders made it back to the chasing group.
Majka and Woods worked together well on the descent as they headed towards the final ramp to the finish in Saturnia with an 18-second gap to the chasers with 1km to go.
Woods capitalised on Majka not watching him and hit the Polish rider with about 150 metres to go and as soon as the Canadian kicked Majka looked defeated.
Behind, it was Kelderman who lead the other general classification leaders in that included Thomas, Fuglsang and Yates with Vincenzo Nibali (Trek-Segafredo) and Rui Costa (UAE Team Emirates) being the riders who lost out.
Stage four is another tough day that takes in a couple of huge climbs before descending into a hilly finish that will be the first major GC day.
Results
Tirreno-Adriatico 2020, stage three: Follonica to Saturnia (217km)
1. Michael Woods (Can) EF Pro Cycling, in 5-19-46
2. Rafał Majka (Pol) Bora-Hansgrohe, at 1s
3. Wilco Kelderman (Ned) Team Sunweb, at 20s
4. Patrick Konrad (Aut) Bora-Hansgrohe
5. Aleksandr Vlasov (Rus) Astana
6. Sergio Henao (Col) UAE Team Emirates
7. Tanel Kangert (Est) EF Pro Cycling
8. Fausto Masnada (Ita) Deceuninck - Quick-Step
9. Jakob Fuglsang (Den) Astana
10. Geraint Thomas (GBr) Ineos Grenadiers, all at same time.
General classification after stage three
1. Michael Woods (Can) EF Pro Cycling, in 13-19-24
2. Rafał Majka (Pol) Bora-Hansgrohe, at 5s
3. Wilco Kelderman (Ned) Team Sunweb, at 26s
4. Geraint Thomas (GBr) Ineos Grenadiers, at 30s
5. Patrick Konrad (Aut) Bora-Hansgrohe
6. Sergio Henao (Col) UAE Team Emirates
7. Fausto Masnada (Ita) Deceuninck - Quick-Step
8. Tanel Kangert (Est) EF Pro Cycling
9. Simon Yates (GBr) Mitchelton-Scott
10. Aleksandr Vlasov (Rus) Astana, all at same time.
Thank you for reading 20 articles this month* Join now for unlimited access
Hi, I'm one of Cycling Weekly's content writers for the web team responsible for writing stories on racing, tech, updating evergreen pages as well as the weekly email newsletter. Proud Yorkshireman from the UK's answer to Flanders, Calderdale, go check out the cobbled climbs!
I started watching cycling back in 2010, before all the hype around London 2012 and Bradley Wiggins at the Tour de France. In fact, it was Alberto Contador and Andy Schleck's battle in the fog up the Tourmalet on stage 17 of the Tour de France.
It took me a few more years to get into the journalism side of things, but I had a good idea I wanted to get into cycling journalism by the end of year nine at school and started doing voluntary work soon after. This got me a chance to go to the London Six Days, Tour de Yorkshire and the Tour of Britain to name a few before eventually joining Eurosport's online team while I was at uni, where I studied journalism. Eurosport gave me the opportunity to work at the world championships in Harrogate back in the awful weather.
After various bar jobs, I managed to get my way into Cycling Weekly in late February of 2020 where I mostly write about racing and everything around that as it's what I specialise in but don't be surprised to see my name on other news stories.
When not writing stories for the site, I don't really switch off my cycling side as I watch every race that is televised as well as being a rider myself and a regular user of the game Pro Cycling Manager. Maybe too regular.
My bike is a well used Specialized Tarmac SL4 when out on my local roads back in West Yorkshire as well as in northern Hampshire with the hills and mountains being my preferred terrain.
Forget distance covered, these are the key stats to note in your Strava Year in Sport
'She should show a bit more respect' - Lotte Kopecky responds to Demi Vollering comments
Jonas Vingegaard wins Tirreno-Adriatico as Jonathan Milan dashes to victory on final day
Jonathan Milan wins from gruelling bunch sprint on stage four of Tirreno-Adriatico
Jasper Philipsen opens season account with victory on stage two of Tirreno-Adriatico
Primož Roglič’s debut and an explosive Jonas Vingegaard: Seven things to look out for at Paris-Nice and Tirreno-Adriatico
Everything you need for Tirreno-Adriatico: Key information, route, start list and riders to watch
Primož Roglič clinches Tirreno-Adriatico trident as Philipsen bags second stage win
Lefevere suggests UCI is 'short of cash' after fining Alaphilippe
Primož Roglič snatches overall lead at Tirreno-Adriatico with stage five victory
