Young Spaniard delivers his best performance of the season to finish fourth on mountaintop finish, moving up to third in GC

Continuing their fine week of racing in Italy, UAE Team Emirates-XRG came to the fore with Pablo Torres on stage 3 of the Giro d’Abruzzo. The young Spaniard placed fourth on the Queen stage of the racing, making a daring late attack and 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 137km to go, alongside four other riders, with their group quickly gaining a significant advantage over the peloton.

For Herregodts and UAE Team Emirates-XRG, the idea was two-fold. 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 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 (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 (Mg.K Vis Costruzioni e 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. As 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 stage 3.

Meanwhile, Torres was briefly put into a spot of trouble within the final kilometre, as Georg Zimmermann (Intermarché-Wanty) caught the chasing group and ramped up the pressure. But the Spaniard delivered a stand of bravery, regaining contact with the group and straight away attacking over the top. It was a last-ditch effort and one that saw Torres’ energy reserves suffer towards the line, but his courage could not be doubted.

The 19-year-old eventually crossed the summit in fourth place, with Zimmermann moving into the lead of the race. Owing to his efforts on the toughest stage of the race, Torres now sits third overall heading into the final day.

Speaking to the team after the finish, Torres reflected on a positive afternoon of racing.

Torres: “Today was a very hard stage. After the second climb the weather changed dramatically and there was a lot of rain on the descent and it got very cold.

“On the last climb I wasn’t feeling the best because of the cold but I think it was the same for everybody and in the end the legs responded as we got into the climb.

“It was a very gradual climb. The last 2km were very explosive and I was just missing a little bit to contest the GC leadership but overall I’m pleased with my result and it was a good stage for us and we played our cards well.”

Il Giro d’Abruzzo stage 3 results:

1. Edison Alejandro Callejas (Petrolike) 4:10:53

2. Georg Zimmermann (Intermarché-Wanty) +40″

3. David de la Cruz (Q36.5 Pro Cycling) +46”

4. Pablo Torres (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) +48″

Il Giro d’Abruzzo general classification after stage 3:

1. Georg Zimmermann (Intermarché-Wanty) 11:07:07

2. David de la Cruz (Q36.5 Pro Cycling) +11″

3. Pablo Torres (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) +18″