Ben Healy makes the cut, closes in on GC podium at Tirreno | Video

Mathieu van der Poel is on a charge, with another win today showing his form is continuing to build towards the first classic of the year, Milan-Sanremo (Photo by Massimo Paolone)

Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Premier Tech) has put in another masterful finish to win his second stage at Tirreno-Adriatico. The 31-year-old has brought his tally of road race wins to three, from five outings, since he began his season with victory at Omloop Nieuwsblad less than two weeks ago.

Just behind van der Poel in the 14-man lead group today, scrapping for the minor placings, was Ben Healy (EF Education-EasyPost). He is now starting to string together some tidy performances and was on his toes today when others were caught flat-footed.

Healy placed 6th on the stage after 213km of racing into Martinsicuro. Other fancied GC riders missed the move on the final climb, meaning Healy has shot up the standings to 5th overall.

He is just 39 seconds down on new race leader Giulio Pellizzari (Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe). And with plenty of climbing to come, including two climbers' finishes tomorrow and Saturday, Healy has a real shot at the final GC podium.

Advertisement

Today, the key selection was made on the final climb of the day - the steep 1.5km ascent of Tortoreto - as Visma-Lease a Bike pushed hard, for Matteo Jorgensen and Wout van Aert.

When the dust settled after that climb, with just over 12km still to race, a group of 14 emerged at the front and stayed clear in what was a game of seconds all the way to the line.

Though most of the favourites were up there, some missed out. They included Magnus Sheffield (Ineos Grenadiers), Alan Hatherly (Team Jayco AlUla) and Antonio Tiberi (Bahrain-Victorious), all 26 seconds down.

Giulio Pellizzari (Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe) was 2nd to van der Poel in the sprint to the line and so took the six-second time bonus on offer. Race leader Isaac del Toro (UAE Team Emirates XRG) was towards the back of the front group, in 10th.

Related News

As del Toro took no bonus seconds, he lost the leader's jersey by two seconds to Pellizzari, who looks like he is emerging as a world class stage race rider.

Primož Roglič (Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe) was also in the front group of 14 today and is now 3rd overall, at 21 seconds, followed by Jorgenson in 4th at 34 seconds. Then comes Healy, 5th at 39 seconds, and Andrea Vendrame (Team Jayco AlUla) in 6th at 42 seconds.

The race continues tomorrow, Friday, with 184km from Marotta-Mondolfo to Mombaroccio. It features almost 4,000m of elevation gain, with the final climb of Santuario Beato Sante crested just a couple of kilometres before the finish.

Healy said a couple of days ago his form was coming in and he described these next few hilly stages as being "right up my street". His progress over the next 48 hours would be well worth monitoring.

Related News