Tirreno-Adriatico 2014, Stage 3 March 14 **contains unmasked spoilers**

dastardly00

Stage 3: Friday 14th, Cascina - Arezzo 210km

Similar to yesterday, the riders will tackle a few small climbs in the first half of the stage, and then ride a few circuits of the finishing town. However, Arezzo provides a much tougher challenge to the peloton than the town of Cascina. There is an initial 24.8km circuit, followed by 3 laps of a 11km circuit. It is this second circuit that has a tough little kick-up in the final kilometre, with an average gradient of 5% and a maximum of 11%. There is also a lot of road furniture that the riders will have to be weary of, and there are some cobblestones located on the second circuit also.

There is a good chance that the uphill finish will be a step too far for the pure sprinters like Cav, Greipel and Kittel. And so, you really can't look beyond Peter Sagan for this type of finish. These type of finishes are his speciality. Given Michael (checks Google for correct spelling for is name) Kwiatkowski's fantastic performance (against Sagan) in Strade Bianchi last week, he could have a great chance of winning the stage as well (and also taking over as leader from Cav). Another rider that is on form and likes short uphill finishes is Diego Ulissi from Lampre. And so does his team mate Cunego. And finally, I think Sam Bennett is going to put in another great performance and he won't be too far away from the podium in my opinion

Live coverage on Eurosport1 at 1.30pm. Highlights on Sky Sports 4 at 10pm and Eurosport2 at 10.30pm.





Start:


Finish:


Last km:

MPFG

A bit of a surprise today I'd say

Inquitus

Kittel making up with his bike!

https://twitter.com/marcelkittel/status/444379479511937024/photo/1

Darkglasses

Sam for a podium minimum today.

MPFG

Maybe Sam could win the points jersey ???

gordongekko

Any updates?

Morrisseeee

Sagan wins it, Gilbert went early but couldn't hang on, eventually finishing 4th.

Inquitus

Bennett, Cav, Kittel all nowhere, messy technical finish and not many in contention for the sprint. Cannondale and BMC take the plaudits, they put Phil Gil and Sagan in the right place, although Kwiatkowski did an excellent job without much help for OPQS.

MPFG

Great ride by Simon Clarke ...never knew he could do that
Kwiatkowski is so superb though ......one to beat in this race

Saxo were controlling too early and burned out at 3km ????

At one stage it was just Bertie & Bennatti left up the front and you could see Contador shouting in the radio and then Nico came flying by out of no where....unfortunately he didn't last long

Dcully

The pace these lads can travel at after 200+k is just mind blowing.
Exciting finish,suited Sagan and he duely delivered.
Gutted Sam was nowhere to be seen.

Dcully

When i was watching that i thought to myself big powerful lad and all that he is he wouldnt handle my yoke so easily :P