"One tactic today: don't catch a cold haha" - Juan Pedro Lopez victorious on coldest race day of the season at the Tour of the Alps

Skipping through the rain on the coldest race day of the year so far on stage 3 of the 2024 Tour of the Alps, Lidl-Trek's Juan Pedro Lopez took his first professional win and moved into the overall lead of the general classification.

"This is a great day, my first professional victory. But to be honest it was a really shit day for everyone," the Spaniard reflected honestly in his post-race interview. "With the rain, four degrees. It was so cold. At one point I couldn't feel my hands anymore and I didn't feel very good at first."

One of the best ways to keep warm though, is to go on the attack and that proved fruitful for Lopez as he and Giulio Pellizzari went clear, before Lopez attacked his companion to take the win on the day. "There was actually one tactic today: don't catch a cold haha," Lopez laughs. "But that did not work out. Then I decided not to save and just go for it. I wanted to win the stage. I didn't think it would be possible, but the legs stayed good in the end."

With two stages to go, Lopez now holds a rather healthy 31-second lead over second-placed Tobias Foss in the general classification, with Ben O'Connor completing the provisional podium at 45 seconds down.