Michael Rasmussen wins third stage and Ivan Stevic takes overall lead in 2011 Tour de Serbie
Christina Watches-Ofone team’s Michael Rasmussen showed his brilliant performance in the third stage of 2011 Tour de Serbie on Wednesday, June 15. Ivan Stevic took overall leader’s yellow jersey.
The race started in Pale and ended in Bajina Basta Tara. The 37-year-old Danish took a total of 4 hours, 34 minutes and 49 seconds to cover a distance of 171.7 kilometres.
Michael said, “I certainly have long since learned that although I may well have celebrated major success earlier in his career, there are no events on which it is an easy to come first over the line."
The race leader, Ivan Stevic was the runner-up, while Matthieu Converset of AVC Aix En Provence finished third with a difference of 1 second.
The second stage winner, Gabor Kasa, was in the sixth place, ahead of Sergey Firsanov and Thomas Lebas.
After winning the stage, Michael said, “I thought actually, I got rid of the crashes, but suddenly I hit a bike from the left, and I saw smoke down. I found myself actually quite violently, and a brief moment I was so sorry for myself that I was close to
throwing in the towel.”
A group of four riders made their first breakaway, which included Pavel Gatskiy (Astana Track), Reinbert Wielinga (Katusha), Andi Bajc (Manisaspor Cycling) and Tom Meeusen (Telenet – Fidea).
After a few kilometres in the race, the last two riders were caught by the peloton. However, Reinbert and Pavel worked together and gained a lead of few seconds, but Pavel won the first and second sprint.
When the race entered Mokra Gora, Matthieu Converset attacked the peloton and took an advantage of 2 seconds, but Gabor Kasa maintained his pace and won the third sprint of the stage with 5 points.
Reinbert Wielinga won the first two climbs of the race, but failed to win the third climb and Ivan Stevic gained a lead with 3 points. In the final climb, Matthieu Converset increased his pace and took final King of Mountain (KOM).
Ivan Stevic won the overall standing with a timing of 11 hours, 15 minutes and 45 seconds. Michael was the runner-up with 2 seconds adrift and Matthieu Converset was in the third spot with 14 seconds behind Stevic.
The next stage will start in Uzice and end in Nis. All the riders will cover a distance of 233 kilometres.
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