photo credit @ Tour of Utah
Lachlan Morton (Jelly Belly-Maxxis) claimed stage 3 of the Tour of Utah today, after escaping during ascent of Mount Nebo along with Andrew Talansky (Cannondale-Drapac) and Adrien Costa (Axeon Hagens Berman).
Once the trio crested the summit, they had succeeded in establishing an advantage of several minutes over the peloton, while extending their lead even further during the 40 kilometer descent to the finish.
With two kilometers to go however, Morton managed to ride clear of his companions and open up a slight gap which held until the finish.
“I felt pretty good, and when it’s a small group like that if you hit them hard enough they hesitate for a second and you’ve got a small gap, and then that can be it,” Morton said of his decision to attack in the finale. “It was also the only time in the last 30km that we didn’t have a headwind, so you’ve got to take advantage of that. If I had left it to a sprint, it usually doesn’t end up very well for me.”
Morton now leads Costa in the overall by seven seconds and Talansky by nine. Atapuma is fourth overall, 1:32 down. Costa now holds the mountains classification and is the race’s best young rider.
Race Highlights
A small breakaway group containing Simon Pellaud (IAM Cycling), Krists Nielands (Axeon Hagens Berman), Andre Krasilnikau (Holowesko-Citadel), Stephen Bassett (Team Jamis) and Ben Perry (Silber Pro Cycling), got underway during the first few kilometers of today’ stage.
At one point, the escapees had established a lead of more than four minutes over the peloton.
However, little by little their gap began to dwindle, until Pellaud and Krasilnikau decided to jettison their breakaway companions with 75 kilometers to go.
But, the peloton eventually reined in the duo during the ascent of Mount Nebo, with Pellaud being the last to hold out during the only climb of the day.
Top 20, Finishers
1 Lachlan David Morton (Aus) Jelly Belly p/b Maxxis 4:24:49 2 Adrien Costa (USA) Axeon Hagens Berman 0:00:03 3 Andrew Talansky (USA) Cannondale-Drapac 4 Joseph Rosskopf (USA) BMC Racing Team 0:01:22 5 Rob Britton (Can) Rally Cycling 6 Darwin Atapuma (Col) BMC Racing Team 7 Taylor Eisenhart (USA) BMC Racing Team 0:01:24 8 Kiel Reijnen (USA) Trek-Segafredo 0:03:57 9 Robin Carpenter (USA) Holowesko-Citadel Racing Team 10 Jonathan Clarke (Aus) UnitedHealthcare Professional Cycling Team 11 Neilson Powless (USA) Axeon Hagens Berman 12 Janez Brajkovic (Slo) UnitedHealthcare Professional Cycling Team 13 Manuel Senni (Ita) BMC Racing Team 14 Tao Geoghegan Hart (GBr) Axeon Hagens Berman 15 Laurent Didier (Lux) Trek-Segafredo 16 Peter Stetina (USA) Trek-Segafredo 17 Matthew Busche (USA) UnitedHealthcare Professional Cycling Team 18 Robbie Squire (USA) Holowesko-Citadel Racing Team 19 Joe Dombrowski (USA) Cannondale-Drapac 20 Logan Owen (USA) Axeon Hagens Berman 0:05:57
General classification after stage 3
1 Lachlan David Morton (Aus) Jelly Belly p/b Maxxis 11:30:53 2 Adrien Costa (USA) Axeon Hagens Berman 0:00:07 3 Andrew Talansky (USA) Cannondale-Drapac 0:00:09 4 Darwin Atapuma (Col) BMC Racing Team 0:01:32 5 Joseph Rosskopf (USA) BMC Racing Team 6 Rob Britton (Can) Rally Cycling 7 Taylor Eisenhart (USA) BMC Racing Team 0:01:34 8 Robin Carpenter (USA) Holowesko-Citadel Racing Team 0:01:44 9 Neilson Powless (USA) Axeon Hagens Berman 0:04:07 10 Tao Geoghegan Hart (GBr) Axeon Hagens Berman 11 Janez Brajkovic (Slo) UnitedHealthcare Professional Cycling Team 12 Manuel Senni (Ita) BMC Racing Team 13 Robbie Squire (USA) Holowesko-Citadel Racing Team 14 Jonathan Clarke (Aus) UnitedHealthcare Professional Cycling Team 15 Kiel Reijnen (USA) Trek-Segafredo 16 Peter Stetina (USA) Trek-Segafredo 17 Joe Dombrowski (USA) Cannondale-Drapac 18 Matthew Busche (USA) UnitedHealthcare Professional Cycling Team 19 Laurent Didier (Lux) Trek-Segafredo 20 Logan Owen (USA) Axeon Hagens Berman 0:06:07
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