A second triumph in three days of racing at the Tour of Taihu Lake 2026 for XDS Astana, which at Wujiang, the finish line of the third stage of 122 kilometers starting from Suzhou, left no room for rivals by securing back-to-back victories with Matteo Malucelli.

The Kazakh team, however, was not satisfied with just the victory from the Italian sprinter, who returned to the winner's circle yesterday after seven and a half months, but monopolized the top two positions on the day's podium with Gleb Syritsa taking second place ahead of the local favorite Ruidong Wang (Li Ning Star).

Furthermore, thanks to today's success, Malucelli and Aleksandr Vinokourov's team have consolidated their leadership in both the general classification and the points classification, and tomorrow, in the always flat Qidong-Qidong stage of just 79.2 kilometers, they could have another opportunity to make their tally even more substantial.

STAGE RESULTS

1. Matteo Malucelli (XDS Astana Team)

2. Gleb Syritsa (XDS Astana Team) s.t.

3. Ruidong Wang (Li Ning Star) s.t.

4. Joshua Giddings (Lotto Intermarché) s.t.

5. Jesper Rasch (China Anta - Mentech Cycling Team) s.t.

6. Cameron Scott (Li Ning Star) s.t.

7. Hodei Muñoz (Euskaltel - Euskadi) s.t.

8. Joes Oosterlinck (Van Rysel Roubaix) s.t.

9. Dušan Rajović (Solution Tech NIPPO Rali) s.t.

10. Alexander Salby (Li Ning Star) s.t.

GENERAL CLASSIFICATION

1. Matteo Malucelli (XDS Astana Team)

OTHER CLASSIFICATIONS

Points Classification: Matteo Malucelli (XDS Astana Team)

Best Young Rider: Joshua Giddings (Lotto Intermarché)

Updates to follow.