Having looked so impressive taking the opening stage of Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana on Wednesday, race leader Remco Evenepoel (Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl) faltered on the gravel section that concluded today's stage 3.
The young Belgian looked uncomfortable the moment the head of the peloton hit the gravel section on the final climb to Antenas del Maigmó. While he recovered to get back into the lead group, he was soon under pressure again.
Aleksandr Vlasov (Bora-hansgrohe) sensed that weakness and attacked hard on the brutally steep climb to ride way to victory. And while Evenepoel tried to mount a chase, he dropped back even further and was left by some of the other riders.
Ineos Grenadiers rider Carlos Rodriguez was next on the road after winner Vlasov. The Spanish rider, who just turned 21-years-old this week, showed he is coming of age by riding away from Evenepoel and the others in the chase group to take 2nd place, some 14 seconds behind Vlasov.
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Enric Mas (Movistar) came home in 3rd place at 21 seconds after his team mate, Alejandro Valverde, put in a number of attacks early on the final climb in a bid to soften up the opposition.
Evenepoel seemed to really suffer on the steepest sections before the finish and today offered further evidence, after last year's Giro, that he is not comfortable on gravel. He eventually finished in 8th place some 41 seconds down and so gave up his race lead, though he is still 2nd overall.
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Vlasov is the new yellow jersey after today's stage - some 155km starting in Alicante - with Evenepoel in 2nd and Rodriguez in 3rd place.
More to come.
