Today's Edition
ABU DHABI (ALETIHAD)
The UAE Team Emirates-XRG continued its fine week of racing in Italy when Pablo Torres took fourth place on Stage 3 of the Giro d'Abruzzo on Thursday. The young Spaniard made a daring late attack, moving up to third place in the general classification.
Behind Torres, Stage 1 winner Alessandro Covi fought bravely to come over the line in eighth, leaving him sitting seventh overall heading into the fourth and final day of racing on Friday.
Winning both stages of the Giro d'Abruzzo heading into Thursday, UAE Team Emirates-XRG looked to continue on the front foot and placed Rune Herregodts in the breakaway on stage 3. The Belgian rider attacked with 137 kilometres to go, alongside four other riders, with their group quickly gaining a significant advantage over the peloton.
Not only did Herregodts spend much of the day as the virtual leader of the race on the road – forcing the likes of Tudor Pro Cycling to work behind – but he was also in the perfect position to help his teammates on the final 16.2km climb to the finish line.
Standing at an average incline of 5.3%, the third big mountain of the day would bring the riders to the end of this year's Queen stage. With Herregodts out front, it was Torres who began to work over his opposition from the peloton.
The Spaniard began the day just 23 seconds off the race lead, and he followed a speculative attack from David de la Cruz of Q36.5 Pro Cycling some 9km from the summit. Riding hard alongside De la Cruz and Mathys Rondel (Tudor Pro Cycling), Torres began to make inroads towards Herregodts and his fellow survivor from the breakaway, Ben Granger (Vis Costruzioni Ambiente).
Over the next couple of kilometres, Torres activated his satellite rider in Herregodts, who waited up for the chasers and began to extend their advantage over the peloton. At the 6.5km to go mark, Herregodts delivered his last big pull and waved goodbye to his teammate.
In amongst these moments, as Granger was caught and dropped, young Colombian rider Edison Alejandro Callejas (Petrolike) made an opportunistic attack, and to his credit, it appeared as though he had the legs to cash this cheque. As the kilometres ticked by, the 24-year-old not only held, but extended his gap over the Torres group behind.
While the wet conditions in Italy continued to cloak the mountain in a deep mist, Callejas pushed on, eventually crossing the line as the unlikely but well-deserved winner of the stage.
