Tirreno-Adriatico 2025 Stage 3 recap - Andrea Vendrame denies Tom Pidcock in the rain as Filippo Ganna stays in blue

Italy’s Andrea Vendrame (Decathlon-AG2R La Mondiale) sprung a surprise in the rain to deny Britain’s Tom Pidcock (Q36.5 Pro Cycling) in Stage 3 of Tirreno-Adriatico.

A long climb near the finish whittled down the peloton and saw numerous riders try their luck before blue jersey Filippo Ganna (Ineos Grenadiers) decided that attack was the best form of defence.

The Italian race leader surged clear shortly after the summit but was eventually pegged back by Dutchman Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck) with around one kilometre remaining. In the reduced sprint that ensued, Vendrame emerged from the wheel of Spanish champion Alex Aranburu (Cofidis) to launch his final sprint early after Ireland’s Ben Healy (EF Education-EasyPost) took things up on the uphill ramp to the line.

A double stage winner in the Giro d’Italia, Vendrame used his experience to hold off Pidcock and frustrated Frenchman Romain Gregoire (Groupama-FDJ) to take the sixth victory of his career.

Ganna, who held on to take 10th place, retained the leader’s blue jersey. He has a 22-second gap on Spain’s Juan Ayuso (UAE Team Emirates) who moved up to second place after Jonathan Milan’s chances were dashed in a crash ahead of the final climb.

Italy’s Milan (Lidl-Trek) hit the deck hard and took a while to get back on his bike, relinquishing his hopes of adding to Tuesday’s victory.

Two escapees – Belgium’s Dries De Bondt (Decathlon-AG2R La Mondiale) and Italy’s Andrea Pietrobon (Team Polti-Visit Malta) – were reeled in with just over 10km to go having established a maximum lead of 3’35" after darting clear of the pack with 66km remaining once Milan had won the intermediate sprint.

Earlier in the longest stage of the race – a 240km schlep across Tuscany from Follonica that played out in heavy rain and chilly temperatures – another two-man move enjoyed a maximum lead of five minutes over the pack. Lorenzo Conforti (VF Group-Bardiani CSF-Faizane) beat fellow escapee Davide Bais (Team Polti Visit Malta) over the first two summits to move within one point of Bais’ lead in the green jersey KoM (King of the Mountains) standings.

In driving rain, the duo then sat up at the halfway point – ushering in a lull in proceedings that provoked De Bondt into a token attack with 80km remaining. Instantly pegged back, the Belgian tried his luck again following the sprint, this time going clear with Pietrobon.

Despite their promising gap, the pair never stood a realistic chance of holding on given the 18km-long Valico di Colfiorito climb that stood between them and the finish. Pietrobon was the last to be swallowed up – just as Ireland’s Healy set up EF Education-EasyPost team-mate Richard Carapaz with a probing attack 9km from the finish.

Carapaz was reeled in by the likes of Ayuso, Pidcock, Van der Poel and Derek Gee (Israel-Premier Tech) before the inevitable regrouping occurred near the summit. Healy tried his luck again before Ganna went on the front foot with an audacious roll of the dice. Van der Poel was forced to close the gap and this burned all his matches ahead of a finale in which the wily Vendrame played the perfect hand to make it three wins on the bounce for Italian riders in the 60th edition of Tirreno-Adriatico.

The race continues on Thursday with a lumpy 190km Stage 4 from Norcia to Trasacco, which features two categorised climbs ahead of two laps of a flattish finishing circuit.

Here's the moment Italy's Andrea Vendrame came out on top in a thrilling finale to the longest stage of this year's Tirreno-Adriatico...

Filippo Ganna may have come up short in his bid to win the stage, but the Italian retained the blue jersey with a solid 10th place. But Jonathan Milan’s crash sees the Lidl-Trek rider disappear from the GC picture. Here’s the current top five:

1. Filippo Ganna (Ineos Grenadiers)
2. Juan Ayuso (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) +22
3. Antonio Tiberi (Bahrain Victorious) +29
4. Derek Gee (Israel-Premier Tech) +34
5. Mattia Cattaneo (Soudal Quick-Step) +36

1. Andrea Vendrame (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale)
2. Tom Pidcock (Q36.5 Pro Cycling)
3. Romain Gregoire (Groupama-FDJ)
4. Rick Pluimers (Tudor Pro Cycling)
5. Roger Andria (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe)
6. Simone Velasco (XDS Astana Team)
7. Filippo Fiorelli (VF Group-Bardiani CSF-Faizane)
8. Alex Aranburu (Cofidis)
9. Samuele Battistella (EF Education-EasyPost)
10. Filippo Ganna (Ineos Grenadiers)

It’s the third Italian win on the bounce with the Decathlon-AG2R La Mondiale rider striking out early – with 200m to go – on the uphill drag to the line. Vendrame holds off Tom Pidcock for a huge win.

With Ganna in the pain cave off the front, it’s Van der Poel who eventually summons the strength to drag the others over to the man in blue. The scene is set for a fast finale…

All the big guns are present and correct as there’s a general regrouping over the top. Then the blue jersey suddenly darts clear on a short descent – and the race leader opens a gap. It’s his former team-mate Tom Pidcock who leads the chase with Juan Ayuso, but Ganna has a small gap…

Just as the tempo came down as the reduced pack went under the 5km to go banner, Ben Healy put in another attack near the summit of this climb. He’s taken a few riders with him and they have a small gap.

Carapaz and Vauquelin are pegged back and now the peloton is all strung out with the likes of Ayuso, Gregoire, Gee, Pidcock and Van der Poel all there, as well as the blue jersey Ganna, who has Laurens de Plus with him driving the pace on the front.

Here's that earlier incident that dashed the chances of yesterday's winner...

It’s the old one-two for EF Education with Richard Carapaz going clear after team-mate Healy softened up the pack. The Ecuadorian takes Kevin Vauquelin of Arkea with him – but there’s much movement behind.

The Irishman from EF Education-EasyPost is the first of the GC riders to show his hand – and Healy’s acceleration sparks an almost instant response from Juan Ayuso of UAE. That in turn elicits much movement from the others – and it spells the end for Andrea Pietrobon and sets things up nicely for a grand finale.

The gap is down to 33 seconds now for the two leaders and there is still 6km of this climb remaining. It’s not only Alpecin-Deceuninck and Ineos Grenadiers who are active on the front – the Tudor team of Marc Hirschi have gathered, ditto Bryan Coquard’s Cofidis squad.

And that’s it for Dries De Bondt of Decathlon – he’s the first of the escapees to sit up, allowing Pietrobon to ride on alone.

The carrots are practically cooked for our two leaders as the steadily reducing yet still quite large peloton closes in to within 50 seconds now. Van der Poel and Ganna are watching each other carefully near the front.

The team-mates of Mathieu van der Poel have taken the reins on the front of the pack, with the gap down to 1'20" for the two leaders. Up ahead, it's Pietrobon doing the lion's share of the pacing with De Bondt in his wheel.

There’s still 14km of this long climb to go and the pack has already taken 35 seconds off the duo’s lead, which is down to 1’40". No attacks as yet from the pack – just a faster tempo thanks to Ineos Grenadiers tapping it out on the front.

Now Jonathan Milan is out of the picture – and, indeed, he’s riding over six minutes back – Robbie McEwen feels that Dutchman Mathieu van der Poel will be the man to beat. The peloton are onto the steep ramp out of Foligno and while many are out the back, it’s still a very large bunch going up together. The gap is down to 2’12" for the duo up the road.

Our two leaders – De Bondt and Pietrobon – take a lead of 2’53" onto the Valico di Colfiorito, which is 18.5km long at an average gradient of 3%. The steepest 14% segment comes right at the start before the gradient eases considerably.

Around a dozen riders have gone down on a tight corner – and Jonathan Milan of Lidl-Trek is one of them. Yesterday’s stage winner takes an age to get up – and that looks to end his chances today. He’s in a lot of discomfort and is in no hurry to get going again. So, that changes the dynamic big time for today’s finish.

Norway’s Johannes Staune-Mittet (Decathlon-AG2R-La Mondiale) skids out on a roundabout and needs some mechanical assistance ahead of the climb. It really is horrific out there.