Wout van Aert (Visma-Lease a Bike) added a Vuelta a España stage win to his list of career achievements on Monday, sprinting to victory on stage three in Castelo Branco.
The Belgian followed the wheel of Kaden Groves (Alpecin-Deceuninck) along the finishing straight, and kicked past the Australian with 100m to go, holding him off over the line.
Wearing the red leader's jersey, Van Aert flapped his arms in celebration, a trademark gesture that the Red-Bull-sponsored athlete once did at the Tour de France to show the race lead "gives me wings".
The victory marked the 29-year-old's first since February at Kuurne-Bussel-Kuurne. He missed two months of racing in April in May after breaking his sternum, ribs and collarbone in a crash at Dwars door Vlaanderen.
"It's worth[while] to be patient," Van Aert said in Castelo Branco, having finished third on the opening day and second on stage two.
"My plan was to do the opposite [of what I did on stage two], but still to use my strength and launch early. I think I surprised him [Groves] to go even before 200m. Slightly up, but with a lot of speed, it was the perfect sprint for me.
"Yesterday I felt good on the stage, and again today, it was slightly warmer. The team was so strong, we had the whole race under control. They brought me in the perfect position in the end. This gave me the confidence to finish it off."
Van Aert will continue to wear the red jersey into Tuesday's fourth stage, which will bring the first summit finish, concluding on the category-one climb of Pico Villuercas.
"Unfortunately the fun is over," Van Aert smiled. "Tomorrow I will be happy to give the role of the leader of the team to Sepp [Kuss] and Cian [Uijtdebroeks]. It's a super hard climb and it will be the first test for the GC guys. For me, it will be really hard to keep the jersey, so I'll try to enjoy it one more time."
How it happened
Television viewers would have been forgiven for thinking they were watching re-runs on day three, as the same two riders from stage two's breakaway went on the romp again.
Ibon Ruiz of Equipo Kern Pharma and Luis Ángel Maté (Euskaltel-Euskadi), the race's oldest rider at 40 years old, were the only escapees on the road out of Lousã, picking up where they left off on Sunday. The pair were then joined by a teammate each to make an all-Spanish quartet.
Stage three's route offered two categorised climbs on the way to Castelo Branco, both of which were crested first by Maté, who earned himself the lead in the mountains classification.
The breakaway was caught with 20km to go. Into the final 10km, the pace in the bunch ramped up, led by Ineos Grenadiers, with speeds reaching over 70km/h on the flat.
Alpecin-Deceuninck then took up the charge into the final 2km, navigating through a series of roundabouts into the inner-city finish. Hoping to surprise his rivals, Victor Campanaerts (Lotto Dstny) sprung a flyer before the flamme rouge, but was quickly reeled back in.
The finale, as expected, played out in a bunch sprint, with Van Aert prevailing ahead of Groves, and Jon Aberasturi (Euskaltel-Euskadi) finishing third.
The Vuelta a España will now leave Portugal for its first stage on Spanish soil in this edition on Tuesday.
Results
Vuelta a España stage 3: Lousã > Castelo Branco (191.2km)
1. Wout van Aert (Bel) Visma-Lease a Bike, in 4:40:42
2. Kaden Groves (Aus) Alpecin-Deceuninck
3. Jon Aberasturi (Esp) Euskaltel-Euskadi
4. Arne Marit (Bel) Intermarché-Wanty
5. Pavel Bittner (Cze) dsm-firmenich PostNL
6. Corbin Strong (Nzl) Israel-Premier Tech
7. Arjen Livyns (Bel) Lotto Dstny
8. Jesús Antonio Soto (Esp) Equipo Kern Pharma
9. Carlos Canal (Esp) Movistar
10. Pau Miquel (Esp) Equipo Kern Pharma, all at same time
General classification after stage 3
1. Wout van Aert (Bel) Visma-Lease a Bike in 10:05:59
2. Brandon McNulty (USA) UAE Team Emirates, +13s
3. Mathias Vacek (Cze) Lidl-Trek +15s
4. Stefan Küng (Swi) Groupama-FDJ, +19s
5. Edoardo Affini (Ita) Visma-Lease a Bike, +21s
6. Mauro Schmid (Swi) Team Jayco AlUla, +29s
7. Primoz Roglič (Slo) Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe, +30s
8. Bruno Amirail (Fra) Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale, +31s
9. João Almeida (Por) UAE Team Emirates, +32s
10. Nelson Oliveira (Por) Movistar, +33s
