Stage 3 of the Tour of the Balkans takes the peloton 187 km from Banja Luka to Pajići, for the first time no borders will be crossed during the stage. This stage i notable for its long climbs with a cat 1, a cat 2, a long cat 3 and a cat 4. There is also a significant unrated climb just before the finish and a small kicker up to the finish after a short downhill. The riders who are better on the long climbs will hope to thrive on this stage. The favorites are:
Oomen will wear White today on behalf of Denz, taking it from Mohoric based on placings yesterday.
5km into the race and we have 9 riders spread out ahead of the peloton, including frequent flyer Barbin. It will be interesting to see how Lierse manages the race today for Waeytens. Peeters on the front early but when the going gets tough he has strong riders like Oomen, Moscon and De Plus on his side.
As the front group on the road rolls through the first sprint point we are up to 12 riders off the front.
This group includes the following: Daniel Michely Smirnovs Sakalou Katrasnik Barbin Grippo
24 seconds behind them is a group of 4 including: Dowsett Moazemi Lavery Le Gac
Finally Shirota is chasing another 25 seconds back. He has 1’47 on the peloton so this might be it for the breakaway. At the sprint point Barbin took it ahead of Michely and Katrasnik. Barbin now has 18 points which puts him in the conversation for that jersey.
The 12 riders are together up front
But the peloton are chasing, they might be unhappy with that break or that Eiking and Duchesne are trying to bridge across. The two counter attackers have 35 seconds, the break another 1’17. Yesterday’s winner Lutsyshyn is working on the front.
We are no on the very long gradual uphill that will take us to the base of the Cat 1 climb to Krusevo Brdo. By the 2nd sprint point the peloton has relented. The two chasers are only 33 seconds behind the front but now have 2 minutes on the peloton. Dowsett, Michely and Daniel take the points. No points for Barbin but Daniel is up to 16. Both could take the points jersey with a high stage finish.
With 150km to go the 14 riders have 4’07 to the peloton. It is a strong looking group. Dowsett was among the weaker contenders for the overall and is just 2’22 behind Waeytens to start the day. Lavery and Eiking were also in that first chasing group on S1, 2’22 back. Every rider in this group except Daniel and Katrasnik is stong in the hills. While Sakalou and Shirota are also pretty solid in the mountains.
With 121km to go the break reaches the base of the climb to Krusevo Brdo. The climb is 8.5km at 6.7%, slightly harder in the first half and easier in the second. The break has 3’51 on the peloton. Puma, Popo4ever and Bennelong are all helping Lierse in the chase.
With 5.5 km to go to the top the lead has gone out to 4’30 as the peloton eased off once they reached the climb. In the breakaway group Moazemi on the front with Sakalou sitting behind him. It is a hot day in Bosnia today.
Duchesne is the best placed rider in the KOM standings of those in the break. He is 13 points behind the leader, Calmejane, who has 30. There are 16 points available on this climb alone and 37 on the day so we may see some action. Nearing the 1km to go banner on the climb Barbin kicks things off and the others all follow.
Barbin only manages to tee things up for the others and as we reach the banner he is fading and Shirota on the left and Moazemi on the are about to sweep past him.
On the line it is Moazemi
The full order is: Moazemi 16 (16) Shirota 12 (12) Le Gac 10 (13) Dowsett 8 (8) Barbin 6 (11) Grippo 4 (4) Duchesne 2 (19)
The front riders in the break have 4’20 over the peloton as they cross the top. Daniel and Katrasnik both lost touch and have ground to make up on the downhill.
As the peloton crosses the top the lead has grown to 5’37. Nobody has been dropped from the peloton, Katrasnik remains in no man’s land.
With 75km to go the break has started the long gradual climb to Petibor. The climb doesn’t officially start for another 11km but from here on in the stage is all climbing or descending. Katrasnik has rejoined. Grippo and Duchesne can be seen sitting on the back, neither has been working during the stage. The peloton has cut the lead to 3’26.
As the peloton hits the official start of the climb the gap is down to 2’43. Puma has 3 riders on the front: Felline, Declerq and Madouas. The Bennelong rider immediately behind is a favorite of this reporter, Hayden McCormick. Two of the active chasing teams Puma and Popo4ever are led by climbers, they must believe this stage is too hard for the puncheurs. But at this point no riders have been dropped.
The climb to Petibor is not hard, at an average of 5.1% with a pretty steady incline, but at 6.2 km it will still sting the legs. With 1.5km to go to the KOM Shirota opens the festivities in the break. The rest are on his wheel although Katrasnik is at the back.
The peloton has not slowed down on this climb and the lead is down to 2’03, at the back Kip is the first to be dropped.
At the other end of the race Shirota still leads with Le Gac on his wheel. Not working hasn’t saved Grippo as he and Katrasnik have been dropped.
Le Gac takes it ahead of Sakalou
The full results: Le Gac 10 (23) Sakalou 8 (8) Dowsett 6 (14) Duchesne 4 (23) Shirota 2 (14)
The peloton slowed on the second half and the lead is back to 2’48. Meanwhile Di Maggio has been dropped early again.
At the final sprint point Lavery goes first and takes it. Dowsett and Eiking follow. Those 3 are the break riders closest to yellow so if the break stays away with enough time they would fight for the jersey. But that seem unlikely at this point as the peloton has cut the lead to 1’48 and there is a lot of climbing to go.
36km’s to go and they have started the climb to Pidris, which is just over 8k, long. Bobridge himself is on the front, the two riders dropped from the break are about to be caught. It appears Bennelong are riding for Dion Smith. The remainder of the break has 1’25.
In just 3km Bobridge reduces the gap to 50 seconds. The yellow jersey can be seen but has slipped back to about 30th. T-Mobile’s trio of leaders are prominently placed behind Bobridge. The weaker puncheurs are being dropped, Zaini, Ulissi and surprisingly De Bie are all in a group 1’23 behind.
With 3km to the top Le Gac attacks the break, so far everyone follows. Behind Bobridge has relented and the gap has grown back to 1 minute.
It is too much for Dowsett and he cracks.
2km to the top for the break and Sakalou counters. Ulissi and De Bie have rejoined the peloton.
The breakaway riders neutralize each other until Duchesne, who showed great patience, makes a decisive attack just short of the KOM point.
The order is: Duchesne 6 (29) Le Gac 4 (27) Sakalou 2 (10)
There is a cat 4 clim in about 12km and the finish also has cat 3 points. Both Duchesne and Le Gac could take the jersey. The peloton now trails by 2’21.
As the breakaway riders finish the descent with 18km to go and a 2’30 second lead let’s take stock. The breakaway is still 11 riders strong and has two riders at 2’22 from the lead. But pretty much the rest of the stage is uphill. In addition, there are two riders with a shot at the KOM jersey if they take points at the last KOM sprint in 3km. The peloton is 79 riders strong. Nearly all the favorites are there as well as all the jersey wearers. Suffice to say the stage is balanced on a knife edge.
Dowsett is half way between the peloton and the break.
We are approaching the last Cat 4, with 0.7 km to the top Eiking attacks the break. Duchesne is a long way back, he needs to finish at least 2nd to be sure of the jersey.
Eiking leads Barbin and Le Gac across.
Points are: Eiking 5 (5) Barbin 3 (14) Le Gac 1 (28)
Unless they finish in the top 3 Le Gac and Duchesne are both going to fall just short of taking the KOM jersey.
Cerny leads the peleton through the last KOM. Dowsett has been caught and the gap to the break is 2’01. Lierse don’t want to go too hard because they don’t want to drop Waeytens who has drifted well back. The problem is they still have 5km of climbing to Kute then a short down hill and a climb to the finish.
The climb to Kute (no KOM) is 4.2km at 6.5%. Lierse plays chicken with the other GC teams and let’s the lead increase forcing Bobridge back to the front. Good tactics by Lierse but It is unclear why teams other than Bennelong aren’t willing to drive the pace.
Up front Sakalou and Shirota have attacked and have a gap.
Tiring of the games in the peloton the Japanese champion attacks.
Forced to work, Cerny almost closes down Kinoshita. Up front the two climbers have built up a 56 second lead, the remnants of the break have only 1 minute on the peloton.
But Kinoshita persists and bridges to the remnants of the break. But great work from Cerny (top of picture) has kept the peloton close. De Bie has been dropped again but the other leaders are OK. The Yellow Jersey is well placed.
Cerny brings the peloton back to Kinoshita and the remnants of the break with a little help from Borges. Only one more favorite is dropped - Ginanni. The two still up front have 1’19, neither of them is a threat to yellow.
Just under 10k to go and Kelderman attacks with Hagen and Mohoric.
Cerny fights to close them down but he has to relent and joined by Skujins they get a gap.
Cerny is still fighting and now he gets some help from the T-Mobile boys. At the back some of the climbers like Henao amd Padun are being dropped. But we are almost at the top of the climb. The attacks have almost brought the last two from the breakaway back as well.
As we head down hill the two leaders have 9 seconds on the four attackers who have 11 seconds on a 25-man peloton, now led by Kinoshita. The peloton lost 18 riders over the top who are 53 seconds back including Ulissi and Bobridge. Smith is still the front half of the peloton as is the Yellow Jersey. It seems likely he will still be wearing it tomorrow.
With 5km to go the four attackers are caught and the 2 leaders are given a little leeway as their lead stretches to 20 seconds. But there is still the climb to the finish to catch them. Great team work from Lierse as Cerny patrols the front and Oomen protects Waeytens.
Sakalou and Shirota reach the bottom of the 2km climb to the finish, they have 24 seconds which isn’t going to be nearly enough as they are both riding on fumes.
Behind as the big leaders wait for each other the irrepressible Barbin attacls. Behind Generali have organized a chase for Ulissi and even further back De Bie is engaged in a brave solo ride to try and regain the front.
Barbin’s bravery is short-lived and he is caught and out the back as the leaders tear up the hill.
Under the 1km banner Lutsenko leads a group of elite puncheurs including the yellow jersey. But a small split has formed and some of the climbers like Buchmann, Guldhammer and Smith have been gapped. 2nd and 3rd on the GC, Schreurs and Denz are also on the wrong side of the split. Denz’s White Jersey could be at risk.
With 0.4km to go the leaders are still tightly grouped. Calmejane has been dropped and Arndt is in trouble.
0.3 km to go. Lutsenko and Hagen lead. Behind them from left to right are Beltran, Mohoric and Kinoshita. Then Sagan, Waeytens, Kelderman, Van Garderen and Skujins.
0.2 km and the picture is much the same but Van Garderen has moved up. Waeytens won’t win today but he has protected the jersey in style.
Lutsenko has led almost all the way up the climb, he just needs to hang on for a few more meters.
He does with time for a celebration.
Beltran 2nd and Hagen 3rd. Then Kinoshita, Mohoric and Sagan round out the top 6.
Skujins, Van Garderen, Kelderman, and Waeytens complete the top 10. Everyone else loses some time with Arndt best place of the climbers at 15 seconds back.
Waeytens lead over Lutsenko in the GC is reduced to 2’02 but he gains time on Calmejane and leads him by 38 seconds.
Lutsenko does take the points lead while Calmejane retains the KOM jersey. Although it looks like he is going to focus on protecting his GC position. Denz still leads the White Jersey but his advantage is down to 45 seconds as he loses 49 seconds to Mohoric. Schreurs holds on to 3rd but further back as well. Lierse takes the team jersey back and leads by 1’03.
Neither Ulissi or De Bie made it back, both lose 2’21 on the day.
Balkans International 
