The 2025 Vuelta a Espana continued Monday with stage 3 – a short 134.6-kilometer stage in hilly terrain on a route from San Maurizio Canavese to Ceres in northwestern Italy. Pro cycling analysts expected the third stage of the final Grand Tour of the 2025 season to be decided from a long breakaway or in a sprint effort. Denmark’s Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek), Spain’s Orluis Aular (Movistar Team) and possibly Jasper Philipsen were some of the favorites for the stage win.

Jonas Vingegaard had shown his dominance in yesterday’s stage by taking the stage win and had thereby also confirmed his status as favorite for the general classification victory in this year’s Vuelta a Espana. Unfortunately for Vingegaard and the rest of the Visma-Lease a Bike team, French teammate Axel Zingle had been forced to abandon the race due to injuries sustained in a crash in yesterday’s stage.

The morning became additionally terrible for the Visma-Lease a Bike team as it discovered thieves had broken into the parking area near its hotel and stolen no less than eighteen Cervelo bikes during the nighttime. Why a professional cycling team had left their bikes unprotected and unguarded remained unanswered. Fortunately, Vingegaard’s bike had been found near the hotel area and the red bar tape remained unscratched. Whether Vingegaard’s dumbbells had also been stolen was not reported, but hopefully luck would soon return to the proud and talented Dane, and he would continue to be able to build both his physical and mental muscles.

The start list of Vuelta a Espana 2025 featured popular riders such as Jonas Vingegaard (Team Visma-Lease a Bike), Joao Almeida (UAE Team Emirates), Juan Ayuso (UAE Team Emirates), Matteo Jorgenson (Team Visma-Lease a Bike), Ben O’Connor (Jayco-Alula), Felix Gall (Decathlon-AG2R), Jay Vine (UAE Team Emirates), Thomas Pidcock (Q36.5 Pro Cycling Team), Filippo Ganna (Ineos-Grenadiers-TotalEnergies), Antonio Tiberi (Bahrain-Victorious), Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek), Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Deceuninck), and Egan Bernal (Ineos-Grenadiers). Defending Vuelta a Espana champion Primoz Roglic had not been included in the Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe team line-up after the team had signed Remco Evenepoel.

The Vuelta a Espana continued its history-making start in Italy and stage 3 got off to a fast start in San Maurizio Canavese after a few mechanical issues had been solved. While general classification leader Jonas Vingegaard was looking stunning in his red skinsuit while preparing to use the stage to rest and recover, it did not take long before other cyclists launched the first breakaway attempts from the front of the peloton.

Alessandro Verre, Carlos Verona and Mads Pedersen were some of the first riders to launch attacks, but the action got reshuffled and Sean Quinn (EF Education-EasyPost), Alessandro Verre (Arkea B & B Hotels), Patrick Gamper (Jayco-Alula) and Intermarche-Wanty’s Luca van Boven were the four riders who formed the first viable breakaway group of the day. Lidl-Trek riders moved to the front of the main peloton to control and monitor the situation while protecting the interests of Pedersen and Ciccone in the stage. The front quartet had an advantage of approximately two minutes when 110 kilometers of stage 3 remained. The lead continued to expand in the following kilometers.

The riders reached the Issiglio climb mid-stage. Apart from Gamper and van Boven getting dropped from the breakaway group, the Category Two climb did not cause any significant changes to the race situation, though the Lidl-Trek team set a fast pace at the front of the main peloton to put pressure on sprinter competitors from other teams. 

Quinn and Verre pressed on up the climb and Verre was the first rider to cross the summit line on Italian home tarmac. Verre earned the most points for the best climber classification and was closely followed by Quinn, who moved to the front on the forest territory descent that followed. The main peloton was now 02:20 minutes behind the front duo with 67 kilometers to the finish line in Ceres.

Sean Quinn won the intermediate sprint ahead of Alessandro Verre. The two riders who had been dropped from the day’s long breakaway were caught by the peloton shortly before the main peloton reached the intermediate sprint and Mads Pedersen proved the strongest rider and took third. Jonas Vingegaard showed great initiative and even took part in the intermediate sprint, likely hoping to earn the remaining bonus seconds, though fellow Dane Pedersen proved stronger this time.

American Sean Quinn and Italian Alessandro Verre continued to constitute the front duo with a 01:15 minute lead and 43 kilometers of the stage left to conquer in the saddles. Quinn went solo a few kilometers later as Verre decided to wait for the main peloton to save energy for future efforts. Riders from Lidl-Trek were still leading the chase effort from the front of the main peloton.

The riders continued to navigate the hilly terrain, and Philipsen was finding it difficult to keep up with the pace in the main peloton. Quinn still pressed on solo with a twenty-three second lead over the chasers.

Quinn got reeled in by the chasing peloton with nineteen fast and intense kilometers left to the finish line of stage 3 of this year’s Vuelta.

Ten kilometers of stage 3 remained, and the teams were fighting for positions in the front part of the peloton. Some teams were protecting the interests of their general classification favorites, while others were setting up their sprinters for the anticipated mass sprint finish in Ceres. The finishing kilometer featured a dangerous curve, which would have to be navigated at very fast speed.

Jasper Philipsen got dropped from the peloton on the slightly uphill kilometers as the riders approached the stage finale. The Alpecin-Deceuninck rider would not be taking a stage win again today. Eight kilometers remained.

Today’s stage finish would be the final chance for the Italian riders in the Vuelta peloton to secure a stage victory in their home country. The stage would be decided on a Category 4 climb to the finish town of Ceres.

Victor Campenaerts led the main peloton into the final two kilometers with Vingegaard in third position. The sprinter teams were setting up their sprinters.

Visma-Lease a Bike and Lidl-Trek riders were fighting for positions with eight hundred meters left. Vingegaard was also present. The riders started their sprints.

David Gaudu proved the fastest and strongest rider in the stage finale and won the stage ahead of Mads Pedersen. Jonas Vingegaard completed the stage podium.

“My win is a surprise for me. This morning, I thought it would be a stage for Mads Pedersen,” stage winner David Gaudu explained to Roadcycling.com. “I am very happy and very proud to take the victory for my team, and this is a great beginning of the Vuelta for me. I pushed myself beyond my limits all the way to the finish line,” Gaudu added.

Jonas Vingegaard remains general classification race leader and will wear the red leader jersey in tomorrow’s stage. Gaudu is now second in the GC, while Ciccone is third, and Bernal fourth. Thomas Pidcock completes the GC top five.

Tuesday’s stage 4 of Vuelta a Espana 2025 will see the riders in the peloton set out on a 206.7-kilometer quest from Susa, in northwestern Italy, to Voiron in southern France. The Vuelta will be using a combination of mountain and downhill terrain to transport the riders closer to Spanish soil. Some riders may attempt to use the mountain terrain of the first part of the stage for an early breakaway, while the sprinter teams may hope for a sprinter finale, if they can keep their sprinters onboard on the two Category 2 climbs.

Stay tuned to Roadcycling.com for complete coverage from the 2025 Vuelta a Espana.