Vuelta a Colombia's Stage 3
The organizers of the 2010 Vuelta a Colombia have promised more sprints this year, and so far they have delivered. The 60th edition of the mountainous South American tour began on August 1st and includes 14 stages over the course of 15 days, concluding with a 34km individual time-trial on August 15th. The typically mountainous Tour was led from the beginning by Team Indeportes Antioquia and their leader, pre-tour favourite Oscar Sevilla, who took the overall lead after the second stage.
Indeportes began the 191km Stage 3, in the oil rich Santander region, with a rider in every one of the top nine spots in the general classification, but at the end of the day Jairo Perez, for EBSA, had ended their domination of the race with a solo stage win ahead of Wilson Zambrano and Dalivier Ospina.
Perez has previously won stages twice in the Vuelta a Colombia, in 1999 and 2007, and both times he took over the leadership. He will enter the 172km Stage 4 in the overall leader’s jersey.
"I felt good in this kind of stage because it's perfect for me," said Perez. "In this stage I went really hard. Yesterday I tried as well but there were really strong riders, but today I went in the break and won."
When the peloton caught the early breakaway 40km from the finish line, the leading trio of the stage used it as a launch for a second breakaway, from which Perez went solo in the 20km.
"With the help of our director and our training, we have a great result for our team today," said Perez, referring to Rafael Antonio Niño, EBSA director and six-time Vuelta a Colombia winner.
The stage winner finished 11 seconds ahead of Zambrano and 14 ahead of Ospina. Ospina’s teammate, Juan Pablo Forero, won the sprint out of peloton to finish fourth, 2:09 behind Perez. Sevilla, the former overall leader, now stands in third place overall, 1:23 behind Perez, 1:01 behind Ospina in second place, and 9 seconds ahead of Jannier Acevedo.
The third stage, like the second, was mostly flat, a rarity for the Vuelta a Colombia, but a change that the organizers intended. The fourth stage will be the beginning of more traditional-style routes, which will carry the general classification contenders over the mountains. The stage will include three categorized climbs and a total of 1,000 meters of climbing. We should expect the return of defending champion Jose Rujano as a challenger in the mountains, after his mechanical problems in Stage 2.
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