After 221 largely uneventful kilometres between Cortona and Magliano de' Marsi, the longest stage of the tour, the decision was made on a slightly uphill finishing straight. Jonathan Milan (Lidl - Trek) had opened the sprint a little too early. At first he looked like the winner, but the road got longer and longer, so that four pros passed him.

So did Andresen, who had also started early, but was able to save himself from the emerging Belgians De Lie and Philippsen. "My plan was to ride a long sprint. My legs were very cold because we rode the last part of the stage very comfortably. But that was also true for the others. Not everyone can reach such a high top speed with cold legs. I just wanted to be the first to cross the finish line," said the 23-year-old at the finish, alluding to the long day in the rain. The track only dried out in the final.

Andresen: "Would never have believed I could make such a leap in performance"

It was Andresen's third in 2026. "The season has been incredible so far. I didn't believe I would make such a leap in performance myself," he said. "This year has given me so much and my team is also incredibly strong. And now Paris-Nice. It's one of the biggest races of the year. To win here is simply fantastic."

Isaac Del Toro (UAE Team Emirates - XRG) continues to lead the overall standings, now four seconds ahead of Giulio Pellizzari. He secured the one additional second at the intermediate sprint. Thanks to the points he also picked up there, he also took the lead in the points classification.

>> Tirreno-Adriatico 2026: Route and stages in detail

Tirreno-Adriatico 2026 - Results of the 3rd stage

How the 3rd stage of Tirreno-Adriatico 2026 went

With rain, wind and uncomfortable temperatures, there was only one breakaway. Diego Pablo Sevilla (Team Polti VisitMalta) was the only one who dared to attempt a breakaway in these conditions and wanted to secure the mountain jersey. The soloist was given a lead of more than five minutes by the peloton. However, the Spaniard took off again immediately after the mountain classification and was therefore already dropped again with more than 100 kilometres to go.

After that, the field was completely unbroken. There was a brief interruption at a closed barrier, but that was the maximum amount of action on the way to the stage finish.

In the headwind about 25 kilometres before the finish - it was drying out again - there were still one or two attacks. Jonas Abrahamsen (Uno-X Mobility), Ethan Hayter (Soudal Quick-Step) and Liam Slock (Lotto Intermarché) broke away, but the sprinters' teams didn't want to let anything happen.