Tour de l'Avenir: Belgium's Yannick Eijssen climbs to stage win and overall lead in Stage 3
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Wednesday, September 8, 2010

Tour de l'Avenir: Belgium's Yannick Eijssen climbs to stage win and overall lead in Stage 3

by Jered Gruber at 2:15 PM EST   comments
Categories: Pro Cycling 		 
American Andrew Talansky less than half a minute behind in 3rd
21 year old Belgian talent, Yannick Eijssen, attacked on the descent of the penultimate climb of Stage 3's mountainous 157 kilometer trip from Saint-Pour to the Col du Beal to get away from a select group before consolidating that lead all the way to the line in the Tour de l'Avenir's first mountaintop finish atop the Beal in France's Massif Central.

The daring escape and strong solo ride netted the rider heading to BMC for 2011 not only the stage win, but also the overall lead. Eijssen now holds a 17 seconds gap on the general classification over Colombia's Jarlinson Pantano Gomez and 54 seconds over Dutchman Tom Jelte Slagter.

Behind, Colombian Darwin Atapuma, followed 21 seconds back, with Garmin signee, Andrew Talansky in third, a further five seconds in arrears.

Talansky's ride did much to make up for the 83 seconds he lost in yesterday's unlucky trip to Cusset for both himself and the American team in general - Taylor Phinney crashed hard early and limped home, not sure whether he would be able to start today's Stage 3. Phinney did in fact start, and managed to finish in one of the latter groups, licking his wounds in preparation for battles later this week. Talansky's third place on the day vaulted him back into the top 10 and a chance to get back into the fight for the overall.

The arduous stage saw the Tour of the Future do battle with a number of classic climbs including the penultimate ascent of the day of the Col du Chansert (12.9 km, 5.6% ) and the culminating ascent of the Beal, which measures 13 kilometers long at a 6.5% average.

Eijssen proved for the umpteenth time this season why he is one of the most talented prospects in the U23 ranks. His victory in the third stage of the Tour de l'Avenir goes nicely with the overall win at the Ronde de l'Isard, a win at the Beverbeek Classic, and a stage win atop the Plateau de Bonascre at the Ronde de l'Isard.

Former race leader, Englishman Alex Dowsett, lost a huge chunk of time on the day and now sits well down on the classification.

Tomorrow's, 183 kilometer jaunt promises more hills for the racers as they travel from Ambert to Vals-les-Bains.

Stage 3 Results
1 Yannick Eijssen (Bel) Belgium 4:11:48
2 Darwin Atapuma (Col) Colombia 0:00:21
3 Andrew Talansky (USA) United States of America 0:00:26
4 Jarlinson Pantano Gomez (Col) Colombia 0:00:33
5 Tom Jelte Slagter (Ned) Netherlands 0:00:56
6 Mikel Landa Meana (Spa) Spain 0:01:04
7 Thomas Bonnin (Fra) France A 0:01:08
8 Timothy Roe (Aus) Australia 0:01:16
9 Nairo Alexander Quintanarojas (Col) Colombia 0:01:34
10 Higinio Fernandez Suarez (Spa) Spain

General Classification After Three Stages
1 Yannick Eijssen (Bel) Belgium 11:52:07
2 Jarlinson Pantano Gomez (Col) Colombia 0:00:17
3 Tom Jelte Slagter (Ned) Netherlands 0:00:54
4 Timothy Roe (Aus) Australia 0:01:10
5 Thomas Bonnin (Fra) France A 0:01:14
6 Nairo Alexander Quintanarojas (Col) Colombia 0:01:17
7 Mikel Landa Meana (Spa) Spain 0:01:19
8 Darwin Atapuma (Col) Colombia 0:01:25
9 Higinio Fernandez Suarez (Spa) Spain 0:01:33
10 Andrew Talansky (USA) United States of America 0:01:35

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