photo credits @ Giro del Trentino
Tanel Kangert (Astana) won stage 3 of the Giro del Trentino today, marking the Estonian rider’s first victory since 2013.
Kangert succeeded in riding clear from a select group of riders during the final 2 kilometers, to seize a solo victory 10 seconds ahead of his closest rivals, Patrick Konrad ( Bora-Argon 18) and Romain Bardet (Ag2R-La Mondiale).
Meanwhile, Mikel Landa (Team Sky) finished in sixth pace, to maintain his grip on the overall race lead.
Race Highlights
Pre-race favorite, Vincenzo Nibali (Astana), was once again unable to keep pace during the final climb, and ultimately conceding two minutes to Landa, after being dropped just before the summit.
However, the Astana duo of Kangert and Jakob Fuglesang both proved to formidable rivals for Landa today, as they attacked the Italian rider repeatedly along the final climb.
But, Landa managed to stay calm and collected, finishing safety in the lead group with enough of a lead in the overall classification, to hold onto the leader’s jersey.
“It was a hard day with lots of riders attacking because they had nothing to lose. But my form is good and so I was able to defend the jersey,” Landa said with quiet confidence.
“It was slightly worrying to be alone on the climb, the Astana team is the strongest and AG2R has three riders in contention. We’ll see how my teammates feel for Friday’s final stage but it shouldn’t be a problem. They worked hard during the first part of the stage and we knew it was going to be hard today because a lot of riders were close in the classification. For sure tomorrow will be another tough day,”
In the meantime. Kangert took a ten-second time bonus for his stage win, moving him up into second place in the overall classification, while Fuglesang moved up into third overall.
Stage 3 Results EST 1 KANGERT, Tanel (ASTANA) 5:05:27 AUT 2 KONRAD, Patrick (BORA-ARGON 18) + 10 FRA 3 BARDET, Romain (AG2R LA MONDIALE) DEN 4 FUGLSANG, Jakob (ASTANA) RUS 5 FIRSANOV, Sergey (GAZPROM-RUSVELO) ESP 6 LANDA MEANA, Mikel (SKY) GER 7 BUCHMANN, Emanuel (BORA-ARGON 18) FRA 8 PERAUD, Jean-Christophe (AG2R LA MONDIALE) COL 9 BERNAL GOMEZ, Egan Arley (ANDRONI GIOCATTOLI – SIDERMEC) ITA 10 POZZOVIVO, Domenico (AG2R LA MONDIALE)
General Classification after Stage 3 ESP 1 LANDA MEANA, Mikel (SKY) 10:37:33 EST 2 KANGERT, Tanel (ASTANA) + 8 DEN 3 FUGLSANG, Jakob (ASTANA) + 10 RUS 4 FIRSANOV, Sergey (GAZPROM-RUSVELO) + 15 FRA 5 BARDET, Romain (AG2R LA MONDIALE) + 20 AUT 6 KONRAD, Patrick (BORA-ARGON 18) ITA 7 POZZOVIVO, Domenico (AG2R LA MONDIALE) + 24 GER 8 BUCHMANN, Emanuel (BORA-ARGON 18) + 26
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