Aaron Kemps wins third stage as Shpilevskiy takes overall lead in the Tour of Taihu 2011
V Australia Team’s Aaron Kemps displayed a superb performance in the third stage of the Tour of Taihu 2011 in Changshu on Thursday, November 3, as he bagged the stage victory.
Boris Shpilevskiy (Tabriz Petrochemical Team) was a classy rider but Kemps easily beat him as the Australian was determined to do well in the stage.
He stated, “The intermediate sprints were very difficult. I tried to get up there but in the first one, there was some wind and everyone was watching me. In the second one, a rider from Dukla Praha boxed me in, so I decided that I’d skip the third and save
myself for the stage finish”.
The Australian set the fastest time of 3 hours, 2 minutes and 37 seconds to cover a distance of 136 kilometres.
Charles Bradley Huff (Jelly Belly p/b Kenda) was in second place, very close behind the Australian, whereas the race leader, Boris Shpilevskiy, landed in the third place.
According to the results, 74 cyclists crossed the finish line with the same timing of Kemps, leaving Ruslan Pidgornyy (Ukraine) in the 75th place with a difference of 7 seconds.
With a few kilometres to go, three cyclists made their breakaway lead, Boris Shpilevskiy, Yuriy Metlushenko (Ukraine) and Grischa Janorschke (Nutrixxion Sparkasse). All of them worked hard until the finish while Boris exhibited excellent sprinting ability
and took the first sprint.
After a few kilometres, Alois Kankovsky of ASC Dukla Praha launched an attack but failed. Meanwhile, Boris retained his lead in the second and third intermediate sprints.
After winning the three sprints, Boris took the overall standing with a timing of 7 hours, 57 minutes and 54 seconds while the stage winner, Kemps, was in the runner-up’s spot with 12 seconds down to the Russian.
Boris said, “But in the third one, my closest rival [stage 2 winner] Alois Kankovsky went to the front, so he forced me to sprint again. After that, I was just left with not enough energy for the final sprint”.
Alois Kankovsky finished at the third spot with a difference of 14 seconds, ahead of Sebastian Korber (Nutrixxion Sparkasse).
The next stage will start in Jiangyin and end in Changzhou and all the cyclists will cover a distance of 98.7 kilometres.
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