Romandie – Spilak wins stage & Takes Yellow

Bioracer_Example

On the Queen stage of the Tour of Romandie, Chris Froome went on the attack with Simon Spilak who beat the Sky rider to the stage and the yellow jersey

RST Cycle Clothing & Trigon Bikes

Romandie – Spilak wins stage & Takes Yellow

The 3rd stage of Tour de Romandie became the queen’s stage of the race – the distance of 180,2 km between Le Bouveret and Aigle included 4 climbs of 1st category with the top of the last one situated just with 16 km to the finish line.

RomandieSpilakWinner_02

Photos: Katusha/ © Tim De Waele

At 25km to go, Vincenzo Nibali (Astana) attacked, quickly followed by Chis Froome (Sky) and then Špilak (Katusha). Nibali didn’t last long in his effort, but Špilak and Froome put time and distance between themselves and the chasers as they crested the final climb of Villars-sur-Ollon. Working together on the technical descent and driving hard to the finish line before setting up the sprint with 500m to go.

Simon Å pilak timed his sprint perfectly, coming around the last corner and staying just in front of Froome to take the win. World Champion Rui Costa from Lampre took third at 57-seconds behind. Together with the stage victory and thanks to the time bonuses, Simon Spilak took the yellow jersey of the GC leader with a one second advantage ahead of Froome. Rui Costa is currently 3rd is 1.02 back.

Simon Å pilak: “It was a very difficult stage today with the rain, but I like it when it rains, and the cold doesn’t bother me either. At the beginning of the stage, I did not feel very well, because it was a high pace and the mountains were really hard. But on the second part of the stage, I felt much better. Besides, our team was very strong today”.

“We had good team communication and work during the whole stage and especially on the final climb. At the most decisive moment, I saw when Chris Froome attacked and I knew I had to follow him because it was the right moment. I did not force it but took my own pace to reach Nibali and then Froome.”

RomandieSpilakWinner_01

Photos: Katusha/ © Tim De Waele

“I had a good collaboration with Chris on the climb and after on the dangerous descent. I was concentrating on the race and thought only about the current situation. Of course, I thought about the victory, but Chris Froome is a strong rival and I am happy I took the stage victory in the sprint.”

“This is a great pleasure for me to wear the yellow jersey after such a great stage as today. We still have two days in front of us with the decisive time trial on Sunday. Of course, myself and the entire team will do our best to try to hold the lead and to win the race. It won’t be easy at all because Froome and other riders are really strong, but we will do all we can for it” added Simon.
Two stages remain in the Tour de Romandie – Saturday’s road stage at 173 km in Fribourg and the final 18,5 km time trial on Sunday.

Stage
1 SPILAK Simon Team Katusha 05:09:23
2 FROOME Christopher Team Sky
3 COSTA Rui Lampre-Merida 00:57
4 FUGLSANG Jakob Astana Pro Team
5 INTXAUSTI Beñat Movistar Team
6 FRANK Mathias IAM Cycling
7 NIBALI Vincenzo Astana Pro Team
8 HERRADA Jesús Movistar Team 01:41
9 PINOT Thibaut FDJ.fr
10 TALANSKY Andrew Garmin Sharp
11 WYSS Marcel IAM Cycling
12 IZAGIRRE Ion Movistar Team
13 MAJKA Rafal Tinkoff-Saxo 02:00
14 REICHENBACH Sebastien IAM Cycling 02:35
15 ZOIDL Riccardo Trek Factory Racing 02:36
16 MONFORT Maxime Lotto Belisol 03:25
17 TEN DAM Laurens Belkin-Pro Cycling Team
18 CARDOSO André Garmin Sharp
19 ATAPUMA HURTADO John Darwin BMC Racing Team
20 URAN Rigoberto Omega Pharma – Quick-Step

22 ROCHE Nicolas Tinkoff-Saxo 05:43
23 VOECKLER Thomas Team Europcar
46 BASSO Ivan Cannondale
88 DE GENDT Thomas Omega Pharma – Quick-Step 34:49
91 ALBASINI Michael Orica GreenEDGE 40:03
95 VOIGT Jens Trek Factory Racing
101 ROWE Luke Team Sky
118 PORTE Richie Team Sky
120 VISCONTI Giovanni Movistar Team
127 KITTEL Marcel Team Giant-Shimano

OVERALL
1 SPILAK Simon Team Katusha 11:39:25
2 FROOME Christopher Team Sky 00:01
3 COSTA Rui Lampre-Merida 01:02
4 NIBALI Vincenzo Astana Pro Team 01:06
5 FRANK Mathias IAM Cycling 01:10
6 INTXAUSTI Beñat Movistar Team 01:13
7 FUGLSANG Jakob Astana Pro Team 01:14
8 HERRADA Jesús Movistar Team 01:40
9 IZAGIRRE Ion Movistar Team 01:48

 

Other Results on VeloUK (including reports containing results)

Other News on VeloUK

Tags: , ,