“Today was really hard, everyone waiting the last climb for the big fight, so I was a little bit nervous we arrived here [at the final climb]”, said Alaphilippe. “I wanted to wait until the last moment because I don’t know my condition after the break, so I’m really, really happy to win today.”
Soon after the peloton of 144 took off from Thousand Oaks, home to title sponsor Amgen, a breakaway group of seven emerged. Nearly four hours and 95 miles later, that group dwindled to two Americans still out front on the approach to Gibraltar: Axeon Hagens Berman’s 21 year-old Greg Daniel (Denver, Colo.) and UnitedHealthcare Pro Cycling’s Tanner Putt (Boulder, Colo.). Daniel attacked for a solo stint heading into the infamous 7.5-mile climb up Gibraltar Road, earning the Breakaway from Cancer® Most Courageous Rider Jersey today. The chase group was pulled up the mountain by Cannondale Pro Cycling Team in support of Lawson Craddock (USA), with BMC Racing Team for Brent Bookwalter (USA) and Alaphilippe also within the pack of 20+ riders.Two miles into the climb, the youngest rider in the peloton, Axeon Hagens Berman’s Neilson Powless (age 19) from Roseville, Calif. took the lead, creating a gap that grew to 15 and then 30 seconds with less than three miles to ride.
“On the final climb I felt really good. I was in the top three riders getting into the climb. After maybe 2K [kilometers] on the climb I looked back and noticed that there was a really large gap,” said Powless. “I just decided to keep it steady and see how long I could go, and it turned out to be a really successful ride, and gave me a lot of confidence just to know that I can climb like that, because in the past I haven’t seen myself as a top, top climber. So, yeah, I have a lot of confidence going into the next couple days.” Strong climbers Lachlan Morton (AUS) of San Diego-based Jelly Belly p/b Maxxis and Peter Stetina (USA) of Trek – Segafredo made a move to catch Powless with 2.7 miles left. Stetina, who is coming back from a severe leg injury, soon escaped to a solo lead and hung on through the 10 percent average grade of the final mile until Alaphilippe attacked in the last quarter-mile, overtaking Stetina and also the Amgen Race Leader Jersey with his win today. Stetina, who resides in two of this year’s Host Cities – Santa Rosa and Lake Tahoe – finished the stage in second place, followed by George Bennett (NZL) of Team Lotto NL – Jumbo in third and Santa Rosa-based BMC Racing Team’s Brent Bookwalter (USA) in fourth. After his tremendous effort, Powless ended the day in fifth place. Rally Cycling’s Evan Huffman (Elk Grove, Calif.), who took second place on Stage 2 yesterday, joined the breakaway to gather KOM points on the first three categorized climbs of the day to retain the Lexus King of the Mountain (KOM) Jersey.A crash at the bottom of Gibraltar Road today took Team Sky’s Peter Kennaugh (GBR), a favorite for today’s stage, out of the race with a suspected broken collarbone.
Results (brief)
1. Julian Alaphilippe (Fra) Etixx – Quick-Step 4:36:59
2. Peter Stetina (USA) Trek-Segafredo 0:15
3. George Bennett (Nzl) Team LottoNl-Jumbo 0:25
4. Brent Bookwalter (USA) BMC Racing Team 0:27
5. Neilson Powless (USA) Axeon Hagens Berman 0:30
6. Laurens ten Dam (Ned) Team Giant-Alpecin 0:33
7. Lachlan Morton (Aus) Jelly Belly p/b Maxxis 0:35
8. Rohan Dennis (Aus) BMC Racing Team 0:48
9. Samuel Sanchez (Esp) BMC Racing Team
10. Andrew Talansky (USA) Cannondale Pro Cycling 0:59
11. Rob Britton (Can) Rally Cycling
12. Haimar Zubeldia (Esp) Trek-Segafredo
13. Lawson Craddock (USA) Cannondale Pro Cycling 1:02
14. Ruben Guerreiro (Por) Axeon Hagens Berman 1:18
15. Jonathan Clarke (Aus) UnitedHealthcare Professional Cycling Team 1:20
16. Javier Megias (Esp) Team Novo Nordisk 1:23
17. John Hornbeck (USA) Holowesko-Citadel Racing Team
18. Jurgen Van den Broeck (Bel) Team Katusha 1:31
19. Tao Geoghegan-Hart (Gbr) Axeon Hagens Berman 2:00
20. Janez Brajkovic (Slo) UnitedHealthcare Professional Cycling Team 2:21
37. Jordan Cheyne (Can) Jelly Belly p/b Maxxis 5:28
56. Antoine Duchesne (Can) Direct Energie 10:39
69. Adam de Vos (Can) Rally Cycling 13:50
117. Ryan Anderson (Can) Direct Energie 21:52
118. Pierrick Naud (Can) Rally Cycling
139. William Routley (Can) Rally Cycling
GC after Stage 3
1. Julian Alaphilippe (Fra) Etixx – Quick-Step 12:49:47
2. Peter Stetina (USA) Trek-Segafredo 0:19
3. George Bennett (Nzl) Team LottoNl-Jumbo 0:31
4. Brent Bookwalter (USA) BMC Racing Team 0:37
5. Neilson Powless (USA) Axeon Hagens Berman 0:40
6. Laurens ten Dam (Ned) Team Giant-Alpecin 0:43
7. Lachlan Morton (Aus) Jelly Belly p/b Maxxis 0:45
8. Rohan Dennis (Aus) BMC Racing Team 0:58
9. Samuel Sanchez (Esp) BMC Racing Team
10. Haimar Zubeldia (Esp) Trek-Segafredo 1:09
11. Rob Britton (Can) Rally Cycling
12. Andrew Talansky (USA) Cannondale Pro Cycling
13. Lawson Craddock (USA) Cannondale Pro Cycling 1:12
14. Ruben Guerreiro (Por) Axeon Hagens Berman 1:28
15. Jonathan Clarke (Aus) UnitedHealthcare Professional Cycling Team 1:30
16. Javier Megias (Esp) Team Novo Nordisk 1:33
17. John Hornbeck (USA) Holowesko-Citadel Racing Team
18. Jurgen Van den Broeck (Bel) Team Katusha 1:41
19. Tao Geoghegan-Hart (Gbr) Axeon Hagens Berman 2:10
20. Janez Brajkovic (Slo) UnitedHealthcare Professional Cycling Team 2:31
37. Jordan Cheyne (Can) Jelly Belly p/b Maxxis 5:38
61. Antoine Duchesne (Can) Direct Energie 12:45
79. Adam de Vos (Can) Rally Cycling 20:01
114. Pierrick Naud (Can) Rally Cycling 32:10
116. Ryan Anderson (Can) Direct Energie
117. William Routley (Can) Rally Cycling 32:49