Remco Evenepoel wins first Vuelta a Espana summit finish as GC fight set on fire; Thomas and Dunbar lose time

Stage 3 of the Vuelta a Espana was a tough day and one where the GC fight exploded. The climbers went all out in Arinsal, but on Andorran roads it was Remco Evenepel who was superior to the rest.

With no GC time neutralizations and the racing fully on, the race left Barcelona, in the direction of the Pyrenees for the first summit finish of the race in Arinsal. A slightly wet, cloudy and very windy day where the climbers would have their first serious test.

Trying to anticipate a stalemate in the GC fight, a group including strong climbers rode into the front of the race including Damiano Caruso (Bahrain - Victorious) and Lennard Kämna (BORA- hansgrohe) who threatened the red jersey of Andrea Piccolo. Amanuel Ghebreigzabhier (Lidl-Trek), Pierre Latour (TotalEnergies), Eduardo Sepúlveda (Lotto Dstny), Jasha Sütterlin (Bahrain - Victorious), Andrea Vendrame (AG2R Citroën Team), Rune Herregodts (Intermarché-Circus-Wanty), Mathis Le Berre (Arkéa Samsic), José Manuel Díaz (Burgos-BH) and Jon Barrenetxea (Caja Rural - Seguros RGA) was the full constitution of the group.

A strong one, the gap grew to around 5 minutes, the peloton first controlled by EF Education-EasyPost, later on Soudal - Quick-Step and Jumbo-Visma began reducing the gap. At the Coll d'Ordino the race began to split. Despite the climb not being overly hard, it was long and left only three riders in front close to the summit: Caruso, Kämna and Sepúlveda.

In the peloton Team DSM-Firmenich pushed the pace. Jay Vine attacked, shortly after Romain Bardet did the same and went away together with Wilco Kelderman. The move was short-lived however as the peloton accelerated in the fight for positioning close to the summit. Sepúlveda was dropped out front whilst Quick-Step led the peloton through the technical descent.

At the start of the ascent to Arinsal Kämna attacked several times, but in front the duo decided to collaborate together. The GC riders behind remained in a bit of a stalemate because of the headwind for several kilometers, but with around 5 kilometers to go Jay Vine and Juan Ayuso hit the front, with a pace that quickly began to grind through the peloton and eat into the gap of 1:40 minutes.

The goal seemed clear, Juan Ayuso attacked with 2.7 kilometers to go, followed by the three Jumbo-Visma riders, and immediately after Sepp Kuss launched himself off the front. Marc Soler bridged across to him, but just as the duo caught Kämna - the last survivor of the breakaway - they were caught by the chasers led by Enric Mas. Soler attacked once again right after.

Kuss caught him and then led out the sprint. Remco Evenepoel launched his sprint first and then had the superior power, a powerful move which earned him a victory ahead of Jonas Vingegaard and Juan Ayuso.