August 17, 2021:  The first uphill finish of the Vuelta a Espana 2021, a 202.8km stage from Santo Domingo de Silos to Picon Blanco, saw UAE Team Emirates’ Joe Dombrowski seek out his second Grand Tour stage victory of the season, buoyed by his triumph in the Giro d’Italia earlier this year. The 30-year-old American’s brave performance earned him a hard fought second place, having to surrender in the final two kms, to a searing attack from the eventual stage winner Rein Taaramae (Intermarché-Wanty Goubert).

 

Dombrowki’s race began when he entered the day’s break with seven other riders, all going clear on the Puerto de Manquello climb. The escapees built a good margin over the main group, enabling them to concentrate on the fight for success on the final ascent of Picon Blanco, a brutal 7.6km climb with an average gradient of 9.1% and sections in excess of 18%.

 

After an attempt by Lilian Calmejane (Ag2R-Citroen), it was Dombrowski’s turn to attack 4 km from the finish, with only Kenny Elissonde (Trek-Segafredo) and Rein Taaramae able to follow.

 

Dombrowski’s ongoing accelerations enabled him to lose Elissonde but, despite pushing with determination, the UAE Team Emirates rider was unable to shake off Taaramae who put in his own acceleration with 3 km to go, opening up a gap of 21” on Dombrowski – who finished the race in a respectable second place.

 

Dombrowski said: “I thought today’s stage could offer good opportunities for a breakaway, being similar to the stage that I won this season in the Giro d’Italia. The GC teams didn’t seem too worried, so I believed I could play my cards for a good result, also because we reached the last climb with a good gap we knew we were going for the win. I am a bit disappointed to have taken second place : maybe I was too aggressive on the final climb, but my intention was to take advantage of the steepest sectors of the ascent to get away. Taaramae today was very strong, I gave my best, now I will try to take advantage of other opportunities that this Vuelta will offer ”.

 

Taaramae jumped to the top of the general classification, in which UAE Team Emirates has Jan Polanc in 17th position at 1’39” and David De La Cruz in 30th at 2’17” with two and a half weeks of racing remaining. 

 

UAE Team Emirates won the team classification for today’s stage.

 

The 4th stage will start from El Burgo de Osma and will end in Molina de Aragon after 163.9 km of undulating terrain.

 

Stage 3 results

1. Rein Taaramae (Intermarché-Wanty Goubert) 5h16’17 ”

2. Joe Dombrowski (UAE Team Emirates) +21 ”

3. Kenny Elissonde (Trek-Segafredo) +36 ”

 

General classification after the 3rd stage

1. Rein Taaramae (Intermarché-Wanty Goubert) 9h25’44 ”

2. Kenny Elissonde (Trek-Segafredo) +25 ”

3. Primoz Roglic (Jumbo-Visma) +30 ”

17. Jan Polanc (UAE Team Emirates) + 1’39 “