Extended Highlights - Stage 3 - The AlUla Tour 2025 - video Dailymotion

The AlUla Tour

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00:00It was a long time coming, so it wasn't like a, yeah, a big moment.

00:11I felt a big weight off my shoulders, a big sense of relief, a big sense of freedom.

00:17Stage wins or GC this week?

00:19Yeah, both.

00:20They were coming together, I think.

00:22Mica starts to turn the pressure.

00:25Pitcock seems to be still in control of this race.

00:30And here goes the attack.

00:31All the pressure, all the stress, all those moments where Pitcock wasn't believed in,

00:37he has now put it all on the pedals.

00:39He's answered every single question.

00:47Tom Pitcock seized control of the Alula Tour yesterday with a brilliant showing on Bir

00:51Jaya the mountain.

00:52But can he keep hold of that green jersey until the end of the race?

00:57Well, we probably won't find out today because this is another one for the sprinters.

01:01We're heading from the UNESCO World Heritage site of Hegra to the Tamer Fjords.

01:06Tim Moliere looked supreme on stage one, but plenty of other fast men are going to be trying

01:11to deny him a second stage win today.

01:14And the wind could also be a major factor.

01:17The exposed roads in this region lend themselves to the possibility of echelons and there are

01:22crosswinds forecast in the final as the peloton head north to Tamer Fjords.

01:29The finish is also extremely technical with several twists and turns.

01:34Decidedly, this is a stage where anything is possible.

01:47The wind coming from the east this morning at around 18 kilometers an hour, which meant

01:52the peloton were driving into a headwind.

01:55The early average speed was consequently quite low, around 35 km an hour for the first hour

02:00as seven men got into the breakaway.

02:03Hugo Asnar of Kern Farmer, Javier Ibanez of Cajal Rural, Yumako Ishii and Masaaki Yamamoto

02:10from JCF.

02:11Javier Ibanez of Cajal Rural, Yumako Ishii and Masaaki Yamamoto from JCL Team Yukio,

02:18Andreas Miltiades and Kane Richards of Rujai Insurance and Jens Reinders of Wagner Bazar.

02:25They didn't eke out much of a gap though, just over a minute and a half clear of the

02:28peloton.

02:32Well, by this point, the riders had turned left and were heading north into the crosswinds

02:36and there's always tension in the bunch in these wide open stages.

02:40A few men coming down at the back of the pack, but apparently no major damage done.

02:45Well, Reinders, meanwhile, had taken the virtual lead in the most active rider competition,

02:50picking up six points at the first two sprints.

02:53The Belgian now six points ahead of the overnight leader, Ayman Rosli.

02:58And Asnar, who was so impressive in yesterday's uphill finish, was the virtual race leader.

03:03The Spaniard finished in ninth place, 30 seconds down on Tom Pidcock.

03:07And speaking of the British rider, he was safely ensconced back in the peloton.

03:11However, with just over 70 kilometres to go, a couple of teams decided to test everybody's

03:16legs in the crosswinds and see if there was a possibility of splitting the race.

03:21Soudal Quick step up towards the front and they certainly caused a bit of panic.

03:26But ultimately, there wasn't quite enough wind to really blow things apart.

03:29And after a few kilometres, it all settled down again.

03:34Here comes the sprint.

03:38Renders now opens up the gas, goes to the left hand side.

03:42Big acceleration, drag race between these two sprinters.

03:46Three more points for Reinders at this bonus sprint as he tightened his grip on the orange

03:50jersey.

03:51A nine point lead now over Rosli and job done for the Wagner Bazan rider.

03:56Well, the breakaway riders continuing to plug away, but it's never easy on these long, straight

04:01roads.

04:02And the peloton always had them in their sights.

04:06A couple of men eventually dropping back to the main bunch.

04:10First it was Yamamoto.

04:12And then the Cypriot champion, Miltiadis.

04:17So five men leading the way into the final part of this stage, but the gap was always

04:21coming down.

04:22The peloton pulling to within 30 seconds as the sprint teams began to get organised.

04:28And with 35 kilometres to go, Tudor Pro Cycling made their move.

04:33Now there's a big acceleration.

04:35Tudor Pro Cycling have decided, let's rumble this up a little bit.

04:41Well this time the damage was done as the race shattered into several groups.

04:45Rafael Mica was one of the men to be caught out.

04:47The pole set to lose even more time after his stage one crash.

04:51And more importantly for the GC battle, Eddie Dunbar was also left behind.

04:56The man who began the day fourth overall, 28 seconds down on Pidcock.

05:00It was a big blow this to Jacob Alula's hopes, although they did have third place

05:04Alan Hatherley up at the fronts.

05:07As far as the stage favourites were concerned, Tim Moliere and Dylan Groenewegen were both

05:11in the leading group as well, along with Fabio Jakobsen.

05:15In fact, his picnic Postonelle team had another dig with 22km to go, really putting the hammer

05:20down.

05:21Arvid de Klein and Tudor were now right at the back of the bunch, but they held on.

05:26Plenty of contenders then for this final sprint.

05:31In the final 10km the pace dropped slightly in the front group and it looked for a moment

05:35like the chasers might catch up again.

05:38But a few sporting directors obviously had a word on the radio and they sped up, hurtling

05:42their way into Tamer Forts.

05:45The Dunbar group would never make the catch and it was over to Moliere and co for a reduced

05:49bunch sprint.

05:55The green jersey has got a problem.

05:58No stress for Pidcock, his issue came in the last 3km, so he would be credited with the

06:02same time as the winner.

06:47Two sprints and two victories for Tim Moliere, who has shown that he is the fastest man at

07:03this Alula Tour.

07:04In the end it was a mano a mano with Groenewegen and the European champion got there comfortably

07:09to notch his 52nd career win.

07:12He's on course to take home another red jersey.

07:36Moliere winning ahead of Groenewegen with Milano, Muschietti and Barbier completing

07:40the top 5.

07:42The first chase group lost around 20 seconds, with Dunbar shipping over a minute.

07:47Despite his late mechanical, Pidcock remains our race leader by 8 seconds from Rainer Keplinger.

07:53Dunbar and Stefan de Bod drop out of the top 10 after getting dropped in the crosswinds.

07:57Moliere reclaims the red jersey from Pidcock.

08:00He is now 9 points clear of Milano, with Groenewegen in third.

08:04Odney Halter still leads the youth classification by 4 seconds from Frank van den Broeck.

08:10And Reinders now has a decent lead over Rossly in the most active rider competition.

08:15Join us again on Friday for the Queen stage of this Alula Tour to the sky views of Harata

08:20Wairid and thanks for watching.

Extended Highlights - Stage 3 - The AlUla Tour 2025

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