The peloton left Spanish territory on the third stage. The first serious mountains of this Vuelta came in Andorra. With two first-category climbs, riders with GC ambitions had to be on their guard. Vingegaard and Roglic, both leaders of the Jumbo-Visma team, were among them.

For a considerable time, the peloton trailed a lead group of nine riders. When the last of the early escapees were caught on the final climb, Sepp Kuss was the first to make a move. The American, who lives in Andorra, forced the peloton to chase. Vingegaard, Roglic and Wilco Kelderman closely followed. Once the peloton caught up with Kuss, he continued to lead the group of favourites. It stayed together until the sprint in the final kilometre. Remco Evenepoel was the fastest, just ahead of Vingegaard and Roglic, among others.

"I didn’t have my best day”, number two Vingegaard admitted, "but it’s all part of the game. You can't have the best possible legs every day. That is one of the reasons why I can live with second place. Remco is, as I said, the rightful winner. I gave my all. Besides, as a team, we performed at our peak today.”

Teammate Kuss was enjoying himself in the region where he lives and trains. "The crowd was fantastic. They gave me a lot of extra motivation. It was great to hear my name as I went up the last climb. It doesn't matter how worn out you are. It gives you a boost every time. With my attack, I wanted to test Primoz and Jonas' rivals. That way, we challenged them. It gives us confidence that Jonas and Primoz were among the best at the finish. That’s good news for the coming stages”, Kuss concluded.