Tirreno-Adriatico (st. 5)

Basque climber from Movistar Team now 3rd in provisional standings after yet another tough finish up the 'muro' of Filottrano, again on the attack; GC and top-3 places still up for grabs at Tuesday's time trial.

Mikel Landa is already third in the overall classification of the 2018 Tirreno-Adriatico. The Movistar Team leader jumped onto a podium place in the Italian WorldTour event with two days to go, with another powerful display at the finish of stage three in Filottrano (178km), three times up the demanding ‘muro’ near the town of the late Michele Scarponi.

As Briton Adam Yates (MTS) went on the attack into the final climb to take the stage win, the Movistar Team sought for another good result from its main GC reference, putting Amador and Rosón at the fore of the bunch before Landa went on the attack. His move, 3km from the end, further strung out the group and almost made possible for the chase to be complete, the group coming across the line 7″ behind Yates. Jaime Rosón, 8th at the finish -just behind Mikel-, is now 10th on the standings.

The ‘Due Mari’, which will look for flatter roads on Monday’s journey from Numana to Fano (153km), will be decided at Tuesday’s 10km ITT in San Benedetto del Tronto. Barring any changes tomorrow –former World champion Michal Kwiatkowski (SKY) now wears the ‘Maglia Azzurra’–, more than ten riders will go to the ‘race of truth’ within a minute of the GC leader.

Picture (c): BettiniPhoto.net