This page contains the stage podium, the race story, GC implications after the stage, and per-rider performance. Read no further if you intend to watch this stage unspoiled.
The hilly 126 km stage to Medina de Pomar broke the sprint pattern: a reduced front group went to the line and Mischa Bredewold gave SD Worx-Protime a third stage win, ahead of Mireia Benito and her leader Lorena Wiebes. Wiebes held the purple jersey into the queen stage, with Bredewold and Benito her closest GC rivals.
Stage 3's lumpier 126 km from Busto de Bureba to Medina de Pomar broke the pure-sprint pattern of the opening days. The climbs along the route thinned the bunch and a reduced front group contested the finish, with SD Worx-Protime again on the front — this time playing a different card.
Mischa Bredewold went clear in the closing kilometres and held on for the win over Mireia Benito (AG Insurance-Soudal), giving SD Worx a third straight stage and a second different winner. Lorena Wiebes took third on the stage at +11" to protect her overall lead, with Ashleigh Moolman-Pasio, Usoa Ostolaza, Cédrine Kerbaol, Shirin van Anrooij and Évita Muzic all in the lead group. The result kept Wiebes in purple but tightened the GC just below her — Bredewold and Benito had moved within a handful of seconds — heading into the queen stage at Lagunas de Neila that fell outside this calendar's coverage.
After Stage 3 Wiebes still led the general classification, but the gaps below her had compressed on the hilly day. Bredewold sat second at +3", Mireia Benito third at +7", then a cluster at +25" headed by Cédrine Kerbaol, Usoa Ostolaza, Caroline Andersson, Shirin van Anrooij, Yara Kastelijn, Amanda Spratt and Maud Oudeman. The standings going into the queen stage were a sprinter-led GC about to be overturned by the climbers on the Lagunas de Neila summit finish (Stage 4, not covered here).
SD Worx's puncheur came good on the hilly day, attacking late and holding off Mireia Benito to win in Medina de Pomar. It was the team's third consecutive stage and gave them a second winner alongside Wiebes, while also moving Bredewold up to second on GC behind her leader.
Surviving the climbs to take third on a stage that wasn't built for her was the day's quiet headline — it protected the purple jersey through the last day before the mountains. With teammate Bredewold winning ahead of her, SD Worx controlled both the stage and the GC.
FDJ's GC card came through the hilly stage safely in the lead group, finishing 10th and positioning herself for the summit-finish queen stage where her climbing would count — the day the race would actually be decided.