Australian successful in breakaway group after already taking prologue
The future can come for Australian Michael Hepburn, who continued the Tour de l’Avenir with strong form. On the 166 kilometers between Gérardmer and Porrentruy (Switzerland), Hepburn sprinted home ahead of his six breakaway companions. The only bad news for the Australian team was that Rohan Dennis lost his leader’s jersey to breakaway participant David Boily (Canada). Hepburn moved up to second place overall, 28 seconds behind Boily.
The stage was mountainous, with five KOM’s awaiting the riders. The race went up immediately, heading from the lakeside town of Gérardmer, in the heart of the Vosges mountains, up to the second category Col de la Schlucht. After 14 kilometers, Colombian Esteban Chaves crested the top ahead of Garikoitz Bravo (Spain) and Alexey Lutsenko (Kazakhstan).
It was the same order over the even higher Grand Ballon (kilometer 40), topping out at 1338 meters. The more modest Col du Hundsrück (six km at 6,4 percent), saw a different rider ahead, Austrian Marco Haller. He bested Michael Kreder (Netherlands) and Bravo. While modest, the Hundsrück climb was the one where Richard Virenque put Jan Ullrich into trouble late in the 1997 Tour de France. Legend has it that Ullrich’s teammate Udo Bölts motivated the then-23-year-old by yelling at him “Quäl Dich, du Sau” (Suffer, you pig). This sentence has made it onto German roads during the Deutschland Tours as well as onto bottles and T-Shirts.
Several riders tried to break over the next 50 flat kilometers, with many in the bunch tired from the first three climbs. At the first sprint in Boron (km 104), Kreder was quickest, ahead of Haller and Robinson Bugge (Norway). With 50 kilometers to go, the bunch entered Switzerland.
This time, Lutsenko took the sprint in Porrentruy. This time across the line was not the last time, though, and 38 kilometers remained,including the category-one climb Col de la Croix (3.7km at 9,3 percent). Seven riders went clear – Chaves, Christopher Juul-Jensen (Denmark), Mattia Cattaneo, Vegard Laengen (Norway), Jordi Simon (Spain), Boily (and Hepburn (Aus). Cattaneo took the 15 points over the top, but had to leave the mountains jersey to Bravo.
In the sprint, Hepburn left no chance to Simon and Juul-Jensen, but Boily was happy wit sixth and the yellow jersey. Dutchman Moreno Hofland kept his green jersey lead. In the teams classification, Colombia took over.
Simon’s second place confirmed his talent and he was signed by Andalucía Caja Granada for two seasons.
Stage result
1. HEPBURN Michael 163 AUSTRALIE 4h 29′ 58″
2. SIMON Jordi 116 ESPAGNE 4h 29′ 58″ + 00′ 00″
3. JUUL-JENSEN Christopher 51 DANEMARK 4h 29′ 58″ + 00′ 00″
4. LAENGEN Vegard Stake 131 NORVEGE 4h 29′ 58″ + 00′ 00″
5. CATTANEO Mattia 42 ITALIE 4h 29′ 58″ + 00′ 00″
6. BOILY David 141 CANADA 4h 29′ 58″ + 00′ 00″
7. CHAVES Esteban 3 COLOMBIE 4h 29′ 58″ + 00′ 00″
8. CHRISTIAN Mark 92 GRANDE-BRETAGNE 4h 30′ 52″ + 00′ 54″
9. SALAZAR Sebastian 5 COLOMBIE 4h 30′ 52″ + 00′ 54″
10. BEDERBEKOV Miras 72 KAZAKHSTAN 4h 30′ 53″ + 00′ 55″
Overall after stage 3
1. BOILY David 141 CANADA 12h 41′ 13″
2. HEPBURN Michael 163 AUSTRALIE 12h 41′ 41″ + 00′ 28″
3. JUUL-JENSEN Christopher 51 DANEMARK 12h 41′ 47″ + 00′ 34″
4. LAENGEN Vegard Stake 131 NORVEGE 12h 41′ 51″ + 00′ 38″
5. SIMON Jordi 116 ESPAGNE 12h 41′ 54″ + 00′ 41″
6. CHAVES Esteban 3 COLOMBIE 12h 41′ 58″ + 00′ 45″
7. CATTANEO Mattia 42 ITALIE 12h 41′ 59″ + 00′ 46″
8. CHRISTIAN Mark 92 GRANDE-BRETAGNE 12h 42′ 34″ + 01′ 21″
9. PREIDLER Georg 101 AUTRICHE 12h 42′ 42″ + 01′ 29″
10. SALAZAR Sebastian 5 COLOMBIE 12h 42′ 44″ + 01′ 31