Tour de l’Abitibi: Stage 3 and 4 reports

On Thursday, the Tour de l’Abitibi had a double day. Adrien Costa of Team U.S.A. won the morning’s Stage 3 time trial in Amos. He finished ahead of teammates William Barta and Zeke Mostov. The 10-km course was predominantly flat and the speeds were high. Costa won the stage with an average speed of 49 km/h, an impressive feat given the gear restrictions under-17 riders must have on their bike. The top-placed Canadian was the national junior champion Pier-André Côté who finished in fifth, 32 seconds off the day’s winner. As expected, the winner of the time trial took the GC lead. Costa took the leader’s jersey from the shoulders of overnight GC leader Norsgaard Jorgensen (Denmark). Côté was the top Canadian on GC in fifth heading into the fourth stage.

Team France rider Damien Touze won the second stage of the day: a 51-km criterium in Malartic. The field finished together is what was a high-paced race. The general classification was mostly unchanged in terms of time. However, because of finish order, the race leader at the beginning of the stage, Adrien Costa, passed his jersey to his U.S.A. teammate William Barta, who now leads the race overall.

Friday’s Stage 5 begins in Val d’Or, Que., the town that formerly hosted the race. It is a 111-km stage – without any hills of note. As has been the case with the race thus far, the speeds are bound to be fast again.

Full results can be found at the Tour de l’Abitibi.