Janez Brajkovic wins the third stage of the Volta a Catalunya 2012
Janez Brajkovic of Team Astana claimed the third stage of the Volta a Catalunya.
He finished the queen stage of the race in a competitive time and overcame his main rivals.
The stage was shortened from 210.9 Kilometre to 155 kilometres because of bad weather and the Slovakian took full advantage of the conditions and registered his first win of the new season.
Michal Golas, Matteo Carrara, Mikael Cherel and Chris Anker Sorensen achieved the second, the third, the fourth and the fifth positions respectively.
Golas was happy with his second place finish, "It was a terrible day of rain, first rain, and then rain became snow. It was really difficult for communication and to ride”, he noted.
He further added that, “At the end of the race we knew that the finish was changed, but we arrived at a certain moment and saw some of the judges around”.
“I understood that there was the finish. I started pulling to do my sprint and don't know if I passed for 1st, 2nd or 3rd. It doesn't matter. It was really difficult".
The 28-year-old started his professional pursuit with Team KRKA-Adria Mobil in 2005 and signed a three year deal with Team Discovery channel (2005-07).
He also represented Team Astana from 2008-09, Team RadioShack 2010-11 and finally penned a deal with Team Astana for the 2012 season.
Michael Albasini is holding the top overall position with a huge lead of 1 minute and 32 seconds over Ryder Hesjedal.
He rode brilliantly throughout the event and already secured the first and the second stages of the race.
Albasini is leading the Sprints classifications with Christian Vande Velde and Julian Sanchez Pimienta kept the next two positions.
Team Sky is currently dominating the team’s classifications with Team Garmin-Barracuda and Team Rabobank at the second and the third positions respectively.
Albasini is now targeting the 199 kilometre stage 4 of the race between Tremp and Asco scheduled on March 22nd, 2012.
With four more stages to go, Michael is definitely a strong contender to claim the top podium spot during the seventh stage of the race.
Tags: