Dennis moves into yellow after Stage 3 victory in Alberta
Rohan Dennis (Garmin-Sharp) won the third stage of the Tour of Alberta in a breakaway sprint on the streets of Drumheller on Friday. Brent Bookwalter (BMC) took second place and Damiano Caruso (Cannondale) placed third.
Dennis was involved in an original 18-man breakaway that gained more than 10 minutes ahead of the main field that included the race leader Peter Sagan (Cannondale). That move split again with only six men racing for the stage win.
“I was a little bit worried because Brent and Patrick [Gretsch] were close to me in the overall, so maybe they would jump early or just sit on,” Dennis said. “In the end, we kept it composed and worked to stay away. It was the hardest stage so far. The crosswinds split the field to bits from the first five kilometres.”
Dennis took over the race lead heading into the fourth stage, a 170 km Black Diamond Loop.
“I was happy to get a [podium] result in the prologue,” Dennis said. “Once we got the break going today, things started playing out and I thought this might stick and turn out to be the yellow jersey. It wasn’t an intention but it’s great to be able to wear the yellow jersey in the first-ever Tour of Alberta.”
Canada’s Ryan Anderson (Optum presented by Kelly Benefit Strategies) was in the original breakaway and is now leading the Best Canadian Rider competition. “It’s nice to wear this jersey, especially being from Alberta originally, but I still want to get a podium. We’re still hungry going forward.”
The third stage of the Tour of Alberta was a 169.8-km race from Strathmore to Drumheller. The course offered one intermediate sprint on the first time through Drumheller and two king of the mountain ascents on the large finishing loop.
Canada’s under 23 champion Antoine Duchesne (Team Canada) was the first to launch a short-lived attack at the start of the race. Strong crosswinds separated the field into several groups. Sagan made it into the first group of about 40 riders. Canadians Ryder Hesjedal (Garmin-Sharp) and Zach Bell (Champion System) were caught nearly a minute behind in the second group on the road.
The two large groups merged back together with approximately 100 km to go, however, a series of attacked at the front of the field resulted in a new breakaway. The 12-man move included runner-up in GC Dennis, Bookwalter, Steve Morabito and Jakub Novak (BMC), Patrick Gretsch (Argos-Shimano), Robert Gesink (Belkin), Caruso (Cannondale), Francisco Mancebo (5-hour Energy presented by Kenda), Anderson (Optum presented by Kelly Benefit Strategies), Matthias Friedemann (Champion System), Jeremy Vennell (Bissell) and Chris Jones (UnitedHealthcare).
Six men chasing the breakaway were Robert Sweeting and James Stemper (5-hour Energy presented by Kenda), Steven Kruijswijk (Belkin), Alexandre Cataford (Garneau-Quebecor), Aidis Kroupis (Orica-GreenEdge) and Marcus Burghardt (BMC). They caught up to the leaders to form an 18-man breakaway with nearly six and half minutes on the main field.
Back in the field, Sagan’s Cannondale teammates did not assume responsibility for bringing back the breakaway and it gained additional time.
Dennis won the intermediate sprint heading into Drumheller and Gesink won the first king of the mountain ascent over Hwy 9 Crest and the second over Hwy 27 Crest, causing separations in the breakaway.
The front riders following the climb included Gesink, Caruso, Dennis, Bookwalter, Morabito and Gretsch. They held a one-minute gap over the chasers and more than 10 minutes ahead of the main field with 10 km to go.
It was a tactical final kilometre but Dennis, the proven sprinter in the breakaway, out-paced his competitors to the finish line in Drumheller.
Stage results:
1. Rohan Dennis (Garmin-Sharp)
2. Brent Bookwalter (BMC)
3. Damiano Caruso (Cannondale)
Overall classification:
1. Rohan Dennis (Garmin-Sharp)
