Bardiani’s Edoardo Zardini climbed to victory atop The Tumble in stage 3 of the Tour of Britain Wednesday. He now holds the overall lead in the race.
“It’s fantastic day for me and the team,” Zardini said. “I attacked at the bottom of the climb, and still at the end, I was strong. Thanks to the work of my team.”
The Italian attacked with four kilometers left alongside Jack Bauer (Garmin-Sharp).
With 2.7 kilometers to go in the 179.9km stage, Zardini opened a gap over his breakaway companion, holding a 17-second advantage over the field, with Sky’s Bradley Wiggins driving the pace at the front.
Roche jumped from the field with two kilometers left and quickly blew by the leader. However, Zardini would not be denied a chance at the stage win. Digging deep with 1.6km to go, he latched onto Roche’s wheel.
Just inside of the final kilometer of the 1,000-foot final climb, Zardini made his move and rode alone to win the day and take the GC lead in the eight-stage tour.
Omega Pharma-Quick Step’s Michal Qwiatkowski was second, 13 seconds behind, and Nicholas Roche (Tinkoff-Saxo) was third, 17 seconds down.
“The Tour of Britain has started in the best way for me,” said Zardini. “I hope to defend the race lead.
“It’s the most important victory of my career. I am really happy.”
It was Zardini’s first major win since the Giro del Trentino stage 2 in April.
Thursday’s stage 4 will ride 184.6km from Worcester to Bristol, finishing atop a category 2 climb.
The post Edoardo Zardini wins Tour of Britain stage 3 appeared first on VeloNews.com.
via VeloNews.com http://ift.tt/1xDQqpJ
No comments:
Post a Comment