Jonas Vingegaard maintained his overall lead of the Vuelta a Espana on Monday, finishing third on stage three after a fraught 24 hours in which his Visma-Lease a Bike team suffered the theft of several bikes from an equipment truck.
Vingegaard seemed largely unaffected, finishing on the wheels of second-placed Mads Pedersen and the stage winner David Gaudu after an uphill sprint at the end of the first medium-mountain stage of the race, a 139km ride from San Maurizio Canavese to Ceres in Italy.
Gaudu, who was third on Sunday, climbs to second place in the general classification after picking up 10 bonus seconds, while Pedersen’s team-mate Giulio Ciccone finished fourth and is third overall.
Before the stage Vingegaard’s Team Visma-Lease a Bike said police in Italy were investigating the theft of “several bikes” from an equipment truck.
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“Last night, our mechanics’ truck was broken into and several bikes were stolen,” said the team in a statement. “Our mechanics are working hard to ensure that the team is fully prepared for the third stage. The police have launched an investigation into the incident.”
Vingegaard was also missing the support of Axel Zingle, with the French cyclist having crashed in the rain-soaked stage on Sunday that also caught up the team leader. Vingegaard went on to win with a bloodied elbow, but an injury sustained in the crash has forced Zingle to abandon the race.
Visma said: “Our medical team had to decide that Axel Zingle is not fit enough to continue the Vuelta. His first Grand Tour with the team comes to an early end.”
Archie Ryan moved up eight places to 46th on general classification after being placed 53rd on the day among the bunch sprint.
Eddie Dunbar slipped back to 133rd overall after coming home over 10 minutes behind the leading group on Monday.
