Tom Pidcock secured a valuable victory in the third stage of the Tour of the Alps, where Colombian Egan Bernal delivered his best performance of the day, finishing third in the sprint behind Pidcock and Tommaso Dati.
Pidcock had started the Tour of the Alps on Monday far from his best form, admitting, although he finished second, that he had had one of his worst days on the bike. Two stages later, his performance was completely different on a day marked by accumulated difficulty and a highly tactical finish.
The route between Latsch and Arco featured well over 3,600 meters of elevation gain, with two long climbs in the first half that whittled down the field early on. Adding to the challenge was a chaotic start, with a massive crash that forced a stoppage for several minutes and affected the subsequent race.
The day’s breakaway had a real chance at the stage. Sam Oomen and Darren Rafferty established themselves at the front after the first climbs and maintained a significant gap for many kilometers, taking advantage of the initial lack of cooperation in the peloton.
However, the final terrain didn’t quite favor their strategy. The main group gradually increased the pace and reduced the gap until they neutralized the breakaway in the decisive section, within the last five kilometers. From then on, the race opened up with several attacks among the favorites.
Egan Bernal was one of the most active at that point, launching an attack in the final kilometers, but without managing to definitively split the group. Everything thus pointed towards a sprint finish in a small group.
In that scenario, the Q36.5 Pro Cycling Team managed to position Pidcock ideally in the final kilometer, and the Briton responded with a powerful sprint, leaving his rivals no chance.
This victory puts behind him a difficult few weeks marked by his crash in Catalunya and confirms a rapid recovery in a race that had started with some uncertainty. Furthermore, it gives him a chance to get revenge against Tommaso Dati, who had already beaten him in the first stage.
Stage 3 Classification Tour of the Alps 2026
1. Tom Pidcock (Q36.5 Pro Cycling Team)
2. Tommaso Dati (Team Ukyo)
3. Egan Bernal (INEOS Grenadiers)
4. Luca Paletti (Bardiani CSF)
5. Aleksandr Vlasov (Red Bull Bora hansgrohe)
6. Sean Quinn (EF Education EasyPost)
7. Chris Hamilton (Team Picnic PostNL)
8. Jakob Omrzel (Bahrain Victorious)
9. Florian Stork (Tudor Pro Cycling Team)
10. Ben O’Connor (Team Jayco AlUla)