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ASPEN, Colorado – There's nothing quite like a long downhill plunge and a race against the clock to get one's heart racing at a bike race. Wednesday's stage 3 from Gunnison to Aspen provided non-stop thrills and action, and saw a strong third place finish by Jakob Fuglsang. Plus a new race leader emerged in the USA Pro Challenge.
Jakob Fuglsang: "In the end I think I could have gotten more out of it if we had aimed higher in our goals. But we weren't receiving so much information in the last 30k and to be honest, I didn't know Tom Danielson was the only guy in front. Had I known that, maybe we would have tried to pull him back sooner and then sprinted for victory. Maybe I would have only gotten second place but it would have been worth the fight. But in general I am happy with the way it went. Klodi did a perfect lead out for me and then I tried to do a sprint. It's still really close on GC so we'll have to see what comes next."
Coming over the top of 3700m/12,000 foot Independence Pass, Garmin-Sharpe's Tom Danielson had 2:30 over race leader Tejay Van Garderen of BMC. With 32km/20mi to go, all of it downhill, it looked like the Colorado native could win the stage and take the leader's jersey. But then motivation kicked in from the group of GC favorites, including many riders from RADIOSHACK NISSAN TREK, and the chase was on full gas. The gap came down, slowly at first, but as Danielson entered the streets of Aspen and the chasers could see him just ahead, his advantage all but disappeared. Almost, but not quite. He won the stage by two seconds to Damiano Caruso (Liquigas-Cannondale) and Fuglsang, as well as 25 others on the same time, keeping the GC close with plenty of racing still to come.
Fuglsang: "Actually Tom Danielson attacked on the first climb up Cottonwood Pass and I wondered if I should go with him, but I saw the speed with which he accelerated and decided that since we were at altitude that I needed to conserve my energy. One wrong move and you could explode today. Garmin rode a good race today and put BMC under pressure." The pressure forced leader Van Garderen to take on the chase most of the time by himself, only getting a teammate back along his side in the closing kilometers. He almost kept the jersey, but Christian Vande Velde came in ahead of him and despite being on the same overall time, the count back for points gave the edge to Vande Velde and the USA Pro Challenge awarded a yellow jersey to a third different rider in as many days.
Tomorrow's stage begins in Aspen and goes back over Independence Pass along a route that sees an uphill finish in Beaver Creek. Although a shorter stage at 156km/97mi, it's another difficult day at altitude for the peloton of 110 riders.
Fuglsang: "I'm a little surprised how well I'm going after a break from racing. And Klodi is getting more and more used to the altitude so with the TT coming all the way at the end, I think there is still time to do something."
Read more about RADIOSHACK NISSAN TREK racing at radioshacknissantrek.com.
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Source: nissannews.com
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