Albasini claims tough Tour of Britain stage
HTC-Columbia's Michael Albasini won Stage 3 of the Tour of Britain on Monday, claiming the yellow leader's jersey in the process.
Supported by his teammates, the Swiss managed to overcome the climb up Constitution Hill outside Swansea to finish eight seconds ahead of Motorpoint-Marshalls Pasta's Ian Bibby. Stijn Neirynck of Topsport Vlaanderen-Mercator finished in third place, also eight seconds behind Albasini.
Albasini, who won the points classification winner in the Tour de Suisse in 2005 and 2006, remained hopeful of retaining the leader's jersey until Sunday's final stage in East London.
"Yes, of course [I would like to keep it]," he said after his victory. "It's a big call to bring the jersey to London but as you saw today we are a really strong team and we are always attacking."
Three climbs during Stage 3
Stage 3 of the Tour, which took riders from Newton to Swansea in Wales, was always going to be one of the toughest of this year's route.
8km in, a category-3 climb to Gwynant challenged the mountains classification contenders, while the climb up Black Mountain after 112km would prove an even longer ascent.
Then, shortly before the finish, the most challenging stretch of the Tour awaited. Pebbles, ones similar to those that proved disastrous for many riders in this year's Tour de France, provided the terrain up the Constitution Hill, a category-1 climb.
In rainy conditions, Vacansoleil's Dutch rider Wouter Poels claimed the climb to Gwynant before the first breakaway formed after 50km. Among the nine riders who broke were Bibby, Endura Racing's Evan Oluphant and Garmin-Transitions' Cameron Meyer.
Team Sky were attentive to their escape from the peloton, but as the grouping posed no real threat in the general classification it was allowed to take the lead by more than four minutes.
Meyer won the climb up the Black Mountain, but Albasini, part of a group of eight riders, began to catch up on the descent. Rapha Condor Sharp's Darren Lapthorne fell on the ascent and was taken to hospital with a broken collarbone.
Albasini holds out on pebbles
Albasini was the first to hit the climb up Constitution Hill after his grouping overtook Meyer, and he managed to hold on to the lead up the pebbles to claim the victory.
"Our tactics today were to make the race hard and fast so that we can do something on the long climb [Black Mountain], so for 50km there was attacking and attacking," Albasini said. "My team made a good pace and together with Vaconsoleil we rode really hard on the climb. Downhill it was really wet and fast."
The 29-year-old overtook Sky's Greg Henderson in the overall standings, where he leads him by one minute and 26 seconds. Saxo Bank's Richie Porte is third in the overall standings, two seconds behind Henderson.
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