Refresh <\/p>\n
2026-01-25T01:50:09.751Z<\/p>\n
One lone UAE rider at the front of the field now with Molana. VIsma is massed behind him, and then Jayco.<\/p>\n
2026-01-25T01:48:58.556Z<\/p>\n
Break has 2:10 on the peloton. Plapp’s puncture and slow wheel change cost them about 30 seconds as Eenkhoorn and Stannard waited for the Australian.<\/p>\n
2026-01-25T01:46:16.535Z<\/p>\n
Let\u2019s hear what Jay Vine (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) said at the start in Stirling this morning.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe’ve still got really strong guys. Everyone’s still super motivated, but the stage is really difficult. 170 Ks, and this is a really demanding circuit. So we’re gonna have to be attentive from start to finish. And like I said three days ago when I took the ochre [leader\u2019s jersey] , it’s never over till it’s over. So yeah, got to stay focused and concentrated right to the last last metre.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI think everyone from the top 10 will want to try and shuffle around a little bit. And there’s, you know, seconds between second [on GC] all the way through to, I think, like 13th or something. So there are bonus seconds out on the line. This course has a lot to offer in terms of making it hard or attritional. So I think we can see a lot of teams trying to, trying to do something, even if it’s just to improve their place by two or three spots.\u201d<\/p>\n
2026-01-25T01:44:47.453Z<\/p>\n
Eenkhoorn rolls through first at the intermediate sprint, followed by Stannard and Plapp.<\/p>\n
2026-01-25T01:43:41.064Z<\/p>\n
Trio now has 1km to the first intermediate sprint in Heathfield.<\/p>\n
Plapp at the front setting a hard tempo.<\/p>\n
2026-01-25T01:42:46.208Z<\/p>\n
UAE, with Visma lined up behind them, cross the line 2:14 down.<\/p>\n
2026-01-25T01:40:38.933Z Stannard, Eenkhoorn and Plapp are together with a gap of 2:38, making Eenkhoorn the virtual leader on the road.<\/p>\n 2026-01-25T01:38:50.972Z<\/p>\n In his chase, Plapp seemed to take a bottle from the neutral car, got a small help but didn’t actually take the bottle.<\/p>\n 2026-01-25T01:38:09.744Z<\/p>\n Plapp catches Eenkhoorn, who seemed to have waited while Stannard is just up the road.<\/p>\n 2026-01-25T01:36:43.948Z<\/p>\n Juan Sebastian Molano, the UAE sprinter, is at the front of the peloton followed by his teammates including Vine. Behind them en masse is Visma.<\/p>\n Bahrain sends a rider up to chat with Yates, probably asking UAE not to chase.<\/p>\n 2026-01-25T01:35:29.978Z<\/p>\n The break has 2:45, so Plapp is somewhere in the middle after a slow wheel change.<\/p>\n 2026-01-25T01:34:38.766Z<\/p>\n Rear wheel puncture for Plapp, and it’s a slow change. Chain off as well.<\/p>\n 2026-01-25T01:32:42.224Z<\/p>\n Lots of activity in the convoy, with riders going back to their cars to get supplies for their teammates.<\/p>\n 2026-01-25T01:28:50.395Z<\/p>\n Lots of chatter in the trio, mostly by Plapp.<\/p>\n 2026-01-25T01:27:03.025Z<\/p>\n Break, with Stannard, Plapp and Eenkhoorn have 1:10 with 134.5km and are the lower slopes Stirling climb which is not a KOM on this lap.<\/p>\n 2026-01-25T01:25:12.803Z<\/p>\n The peloton has calmed down, momentarily as domestiques bring up ice socks and bottles for their teammates.<\/p>\n 2026-01-25T01:22:28.461Z<\/p>\n The highest-placed rider in the break is Eenkhoorn at 2:15, and Plapp is at 2:55<\/p>\n 2026-01-25T01:19:41.707Z<\/p>\n The new break of Robert Stannard (Bahrain Victorious, Luke Plapp (Jayco AlUla) and Pascal Eenkhoorn (Soudal-Quickstep) only have 25 seconds.<\/p>\n Riders continue to attack at the front.<\/p>\n 2026-01-25T01:18:32.228Z<\/p>\n Stannard has made it across again but the trio have a very slim lead of 8 seconds.<\/p>\n 2026-01-25T01:15:36.068Z<\/p>\n Eenkhoorn attacked again and was quickly joined by Plapp. The pair is discussing strategy, but they only have 12 seconds on the field.<\/p>\n 2026-01-25T01:13:15.105Z<\/p>\n White jersey Andrea Raccagni is still chasing in the team cars with assistance his Alberto Dainese, the sprinter on their team.<\/p>\n 2026-01-25T01:12:32.057Z<\/p>\n Jayco-AlUla sports director Matthew Hayman shared his thoughts with Cyclingnews at the start in Stirling this morning. Their GC leader Mauro Schmid sits second overall, 1:30 down and nine seconds ahead of Harry Sweeny (EF Education-Easypost).<\/p>\n “There’s the fatigue from yesterday. We obviously want a hard race, and we want to see if we can expose UAE at any stage but you can’t do that by yourself … so there’s elements of when the bunch just doesn’t want to race, I’m not going to send my guys attacking like idiots, so we need to encourage that [the attacks] and get the right combinations going.”<\/p>\n
\nStart of lap 3 of 8 – 127.8km to go<\/p>\n