Tirreno-Adriatico 2014 - Stage 3

The third stage of Tirreno-Adriatico was a 210 kilometre lumpy affair from Cascina to Arezzo which looked like it would be settled by the classics stars, or a punchy sprinter. There were two non-starters at the start of the stage however, Jurgen Van Den Broeck retired after being involved in the crash and injuring his knee, and Jacopo Guarnieri of Astana also fractured his leg in the crash.

Sergio Pardilla (MTN-Qhubeka) and Dario Cataldo (Sky) also retired soon after the start from injuries sustained in the crash. Marco Canola (Bardiani-CSF) was in the break once again trying to defend his King of the Mountains jersey, and was joined by teammate Nicola Boem, Jay Thomson (MTN-Qhubeka), Bjorn Thurau (Europcar) and Cesare Benedetti (NetApp-Endura). 

They gained around five minutes for the majority of the stage, with Canola taking maximum points at both KOM points. They reached the finishing circuit at Arezzo with fifty seven kilometres to go, and Omega Pharma-Quickstep were duly chasing to defend Mark Cavendish's overall lead, with assistance from Lampre-Merida. 

Bjorn Thurau tried his hand alone on the finishing circuit, but the finish was too tantalising for the peloton, and Thurau and the remnants of the breakaway were easily brought back. Tinkoff-Saxo worked hard to set up the finish for local rider Daniele Bennati, but Tony Martin upped the pace in the final kilometre, and strung it out on the tricky cobbled ascent to the finish.

Philippe Gilbert (BMC Racing) was the first to put in a serious dig, but he went too early, and Peter Sagan (Cannondale) came over the top. The Slovakian went on to win the stage, and Gilbert faded, allowing Michal Kwiatkowski and Simon Clarke to come over the top of him. Kwiatkowski inherited the leader's jersey from his teammate Mark Cavendish, and Sagan dedicated his win to his mother. Kwiatkowski would have a tough time holding onto his leader's jersey on the summit finish the next day though.