His early efforts to bring a five-man breakaway pack back to the peloton paid dividends for the Dutch rider, eventually putting in a kick to claim victory ahead of the tired Belgian, representing Jumbo-Visma.

Italy's Davide Ballerini of Deceuninck-QuickStep finished third in today's stage, followed by Colombia's Sergio Higuita of EF Education-Nippo and Belgium's Greg van Avermaet of AG2R Citroen Team.

Van der Poel stated he was glad to put the frustrations of yesterday behind him, where he narrowly missed the stage win, which went to France's Julian Alaphilippe of Deceuninck-QuickStep.

"I was frustrated yesterday with my mistake in the sprint and I wanted to make it right today," said Van der Poel. 

"I was happy to take the win after the team also did an amazing job to close the break."

Van Aert had followed the late attack of Czech rider Zdeněk Štybar of Deceuninck-QuickStep, which the Dutchman used to his advantage.

"Wout immediately reacted to Alaphilippe letting the gap go, otherwise it could have been dangerous," added Van der Poel. 

"I think I made the right decision to follow. 

"It was a hard sprint, it went up hill a bit. 

"After such a long stage, it hurt."

Van Aert has maintained his general classification lead, but is only four seconds ahead of Van der Poel, while Alaphilippe sits in third, 10 seconds behind.

Spain's Mikel Landa of Bahrain Victorious is 19 seconds behind the Belgian, ahead of reigning Tour de France winner Slovenia's Tadej Pogačar of UAE Team Emirates.

The fourth stage of the Tirreno-Adriatico, set to take place tomorrow is the sole mountain stage of the race - a 148 kilometre route from Terni to Prati di Tivo.