Ryder Hesjedal, Tirreno-Adriatico stage 3 Two 200 km stages later and we’ve arrived at the Adriatic. A beautiful day and once again some very controlled Italian racing. Really the very best training anybody could ask for as Classics prep with another unreal hard finish circuit.

And by unreal hard, I mean that other than the first 30 guys up Montelupone, the rest of us had to walk the final 200 meters. Solid 20+% up a cowpath-width road; a hill even Ryder (left) called “rude”. Once one rider lost it, everybody behind stalled out, cars included. A couple of motorcycles crashed because they couldn’t keep moving.

Silly. Straight up wrong. But pretty damn cool at the same time.

Timmy Duggan, Tirreno-Adriatico stage 3 Ryder and Timmy hung with the front little group, but Timmy (right) was caught behind a motorcycle crash the second time up and had to run the last few hundred meters to the finish. Maggy was a bit behind and had his bag in the second car. He actually contemplated asking for his running shoes mid-way up.

Tomorrow’s stage 4 looks like something a bit mellower but still solid; maybe a chance for a break to roll. To this point we’ve been told to just chill in the bunch but might give it a nudge the next few as the classification has started to sort itself out.

Regardless, a few days at the same hotel now, right on the water…could be worse.

-Will