The Tour of the Alps is over its halfway mark, with two stages remaining, including tomorrow’s Queen stage, before a final day that could still shake the overall standings.

After Stage 3 today (Imst-Naturns, 162km and 2.950m of elevation gain), Team Bahrain Victorious captain Pello Bilbao sits in 3rd, trailing the leader Simons Yates (Ineos Grenadiers) by 1’04” in the GC.

After yesterday’s disappointing finale, the Spanish rider put on a strong performance to catch the remaining four riders from a strong breakaway, including Hermann Pernsteiner.

Pello Bilbao shared his thoughts about his move that earned him 8th place on Stage 3: “When I knew that my teammate was not going to win the stage, as he lost contact with the breakaway companions, I decided to try. Theoretically, today was a day to wait and save energy for tomorrow, but I saw a good opportunity. In the end, it was a perfect move. I could make a big step in the front, recovering the time that I lost yesterday. I want to say thank you to all the team, especially Pernsteiner, who worked to support me in the last km, and it was crucial, after a hard stage with a high pace.”

Hermann Pernsteiner finished in 10th place, with another of our riders, Mark Padun finishing in 12th place in the first chasing group at 49” to the stage winner Moscon (Ineos Grenadiers), who beat Großschartner( Bora-Hansgrohe) in a two-man sprint.

Tomorrow the Tour of the Alps continues with Stage 4, Naturns-Valle del Chiese 168.6km. It will be the longest and most challenging stage with the most significant overall elevation gain and probably the decisive day for the GC. “We will do everything we can to help Pello maintain the podium and even improve the final GC result of this Tour of the Alps”, Pernsteiner concluded.

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