British rider Ben Turner (Ineos Grenadiers) won the third stage of the Tour de Pologne, contested from start to finish in Wałbrzych over a distance of 159.3 km. Turner narrowly beat Pello Bilbao of Bahrain Victorious and Andrea Bagioli of Lidl Trek. Francesco Busatto of Intermarché Wanty finished in eighth place.

The stage was characterized by a chaotic finale: just over 20 kilometers into the race, while Ulissi and Milesi were attacking and catching up with O'Brien, the last survivor of the day's breakaway, a downhill crash occurred involving six riders going off the road: among them Majka, who immediately restarted, Jack Haig (as confirmed by Bahrain Victorious and not Antonio Tiberi as initially reported by race radio), and the race leader Lapeira, who appeared to be in significant pain in his left side and arrived significantly delayed.

With 15 kilometers to go, the decision was made to stop the race, with the organizer Lang personally explaining the situation to the three breakaway riders: all ambulances were occupied and could not guarantee support for the race. After more than ten minutes of stoppage, the restart saw O'Brien, Ulissi, and Milesi setting off with a 40-second advantage over the peloton. Behind them, Visma Lease a Bike, particularly Attila Valter, was setting the pace in favor of his teammate Kooij.

Practically at the two-kilometer marker, the group split, and a small group of about a dozen riders soon caught the three breakaway riders, nullifying their attempt and arriving for the final sprint, which essentially saw the peloton arrive together.

VACEK. Mathias Vacek, second in the general classification, was taken to the hospital with a lip wound requiring stitches and showed signs of concussion, for which he will be monitored by the Lidl Trek medical staff and hospital medical personnel.

THE JURY. At the end of the race, the jury officially decided to neutralize the stage, meaning times and gaps (also because the stop had allowed previously delayed riders, not due to the crash, to rejoin) will not be considered for the general classification. The French rider Lapeira thus retains the leader's jersey, and we hope that tomorrow, like all other riders involved in the crash, he will be at the start of the race.

THE RACE. A large breakaway animated the day: attacking were Remi Cavagna (Groupama FDJ), Ide Schelling (XdS Astana), Pierre Thierry (Arkea B&B Hotels), Kelland O'Brien (Jayco AlUla), Pepijn Reinderink (Soudal Quick Step), Fabio Van den Bossche and Timo Kielich (Alpecin Deceuninck), Mateusz Gajdulewicz (Poland National Team), Reuben Thompson (Lotto) and Anthony Perez (Cofidis).

The first to break away were Thierry, Thompson, and Schelling, then Alessandro Verre tried to escape from the group and around 50 kilometers from the finish, he reached his teammate Thierry.

With the peloton in strong pursuit, at -40 kilometers Kielich, Reinderink, and O'Brien remained in the lead, pursued at one minute by Riccitello and at 1'10" by the main group. On the slopes of Przełęcz Walimska, Kielich also gave up, and O'Brien was left alone. Then Ulissi and Milesi caught the leader, followed by the crash and the finale we've described.

STAGE RESULTS

1. Turner Ben (INEOS Grenadiers) in 4:15:46
2. Bilbao Pello (Bahrain Victorious)
3. Bagioli Andrea (Lidl-Trek)
4. Christen Jan (UAE Team Emirates-XRG)
5. Livyns Arjen (Lotto)
6. Hermans Quinten (Alpecin-Deceuninck)
7. Reinderink Pepijn (Soudal Quick-Step)
8. Busatto Francesco (Intermarché-Wanty)
9. Sütterlin Jasha (Team Jayco-AlUla)
10. Budzinski Marcin (Poland)