Nikias Arndt wins third stage in 2011 Internationale Thuringen-Rundfahrt U23
LKT Brandenburg team’s Nikias Arndt won the third stage of 2011 Internationale Thuringen-Rundfahrt U23 in Ohrdruf on Wednesday, June 12 and Jay McCarthy maintained his overall leader’s yellow jersey.
The German rider, Rudiger Selig was the runner-up and Great Britain’s Jonathan Mould took the third spot.
Nikias Arndt, after finishing the race, told the media, "It does not bother me. When I return on Monday to Weimar to study must, I get up at the same time."
Harry Kraft (Bergstrasse U23), Theo Reinhardt (KED-Bianchi) and Luke Rowe (Great Britain) were in fourth, fifth and sixth places, respectively.
Michael Hepburn of the Jayco-AIS team tried his best to catch the group of 98 riders, but he failed and grabbed 99th spot with a difference of 30 seconds, ahead of Alex Carver.
After 51 kilometres from the start of the race, a group of three riders made their first breakaway, which included Gernot Auer of Austria, Oliver Johr of Seven Stones and Jan Sokol of Austria.
All of them gained a lead of few seconds over the peloton. Jan Sokol was caught behind and Gernot won the first sprint of the stage, ahead of Oliver.
However, Oliver maintained his speed and won the second sprint. In the final few kilometres of the race, a new group was formed, which included Michael Humbert, Gernot Auer and Aaron Gate. Gernot attacked in the final kilometres of the race, but failed and
Michael took the final sprint with 3 points.
Georg Preider won the final King of Mountain (KOM) of the day, ahead of Maxime Daniel and Fabian Thiel (Thüringer Energie Team).
Jay McCarthy took the overall lead with a total timing of 7 hours, 59 minutes and 25 seconds. Patrick Lane was the runner-up with 7 seconds adrift and Jetse Bol finished third with 9 seconds behind Jay.
Wilco Kelderman of Rabobank Continental team was in the fourth spot and the stage winner, Nikias Arndt was in the 13th spot with a difference of 41 seconds.
The next stage will start in Frottstadt and end in Oberhof. All the riders will cover a distance of 145.7 kilometres.
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