2014 Tour of Alberta stage 3

While waiting for the first of the riders to sign on, race announcer Dave Towle called up Canadian former cyclist Gord Fraser for a chat.

 

Andrea and I flipped and flopped about which one of two spots we wanted to be in for the sign on but we decided to stay put when we learned that we were already standing at the line where the special jerseys would be called to line up for the start of the race.

 

Talking breakfast and maple syrup with Ted King.

 

The Canadian national team signs on.

 

An Italian who calls Barrie, Ontario home, Davide Frattini.

 

Zach Bell.

 

Daryl Impey.

 

Maybe it's because we're in Alberta and people lasso things here, the riders are corralled every morning upon the closing of sign on.

 

The only two Lithuanians at the Tour of Alberta, Ramunas Navardauskas and Aidis Kruopis, looked quite happy hanging out together before the neutral start.

 

Simon Geschke and Tom Dumoulin on their way to join the corrals.

 

Joey Rosskopf, KOM at the Tour of Utah last month, was called to the line first because today was his 25th birthday.

 

Dumoulin double checked his brakes.

 

Ruben Zepuntke in the sprinter's jersey, Dumoulin in the leader's jersey, and Simon Yates in the KOM jersey.

 

Davide Villella borrowed the young rider's jersey from Dumoulin.

 

Kiel Reijnen laughed with a teammate as he waited to be called.

 

Waiting.

 

Serghei Tvetcov was so close to me it was almost awkward. Almost.

 

Presenting the colours for the Canadian national anthem.

 

The riders in the front removed their glasses and helmets to be respectful. I must admit, after going to so many races in Europe, it feels very strange to hear a national anthem played at a race.

 

Ready to go.

 

Last minute stretching for Fabian Wegmann.

 

Bissell Development Team.

 

Robin Carpenter.

 

For reasons unknown to me, Sep Vanmarcke is the only Belkin rider with his name on the front of his helmet.

 

Go time!

The peloton returned a few minutes later on their first of two neutral laps around Wetaskiwin.

 

The second and final neutral lap.

 

We got in the car and drove to the finish, stopping only for snacks at Timmy's like good Canadians (if you don't know what I'm talking about, you can ask any Canadian under the sun).

 

The stage arrival was at a military base and the finishing straight itself was an old runway which would see the peloton complete three laps.

 

Caleb Fairly and Cam Wurf.

 

Wegmann and Navardauskas.

 

Spectators watched from wherever they could.

 

Two laps to go and the Orica boys were driving hard.

 

A Belkin trio who had been distanced.

 

Tom Danielson missed the front group when echelons formed and would plummet from 4th place to 59th in the GC.

 

 

A three man break of Vanmarcke, Navardauskas, and Leigh Howard had gained around 15 seconds at the start of the bell lap!

 

Canadian Cycling Magazine shot another perspective of the same photo. You can see Andrea and I to the immediate left of the gantry, in the blue and black respectively, cheering like crazy for Vanmarcke and Navardauskas, (also respectively)!

 

With only a handful of seconds ahead of second place and 10 bonus seconds up for grabs, Dumoulin came to front of the chase group to turn up the pace.

 

Eric Marcotte.

 

The announcer was going crazy as usual and I know I was beside myself listening to the commentary and watching the final couple hundred meters. It was between Navardauskas and Vanmarcke, Howard was clearly going to end up in third. The Belgian attacked before the final sweeping turn onto the straightaway and with each pedal stroke, he gained a little more distance on Navardauskas.

 

Vanmarcke and Andrea cheered while I bellowed in despair for Navardauskas.

 

Kruopis won the bunch sprint with Steele Von Hoff placing fifth.

 

Waiting for the awards to get underway, the photographers amused themselves.

 

To celebrate the military, the leader's jersey was camouflaged. Interesting.

 

Another stage, another hat for Dumoulin.

 

While he missed out on the stage win, Navardauskas grabbed enough points today to become the new sprint leader!

 

Yates retained the polka dots.

 

Dumoulin in white.

 

Dal-Cin rode aggressively and worked hard in an earlier break and earned the blue jersey. He, too, nearly walked off stage without his kisses and the podium girls laughed as they hauled him front and center.

 

In addition to being awarded the best Canadian rider's jersey again, Ryan Anderson also received an Oilers jersey from team captain Andrew Ference and head coach Dallas Eakins.

The podium. Vanmarcke later said he won the stage for Igor Decraene, the 18 year old Junior Men's ITT World Champion from Belgium who was tragically killed last week when he was hit by a train.

 

I'm guessing this is the first ever hockey jersey for Vanmarcke.

 

The jerseys.

 

The podium girls must wear a lot of lipstick.

 

Today's 20 autographs came from: 2 Caleb Fairly, 3 Phil Gaimon, 4 Gavin Mannion, 7 Steele Von Hoff, 8 Fabian Wegmann, 16 David Tanner, 17 Sep Vanmarcke, 24 Simon Geschke, 25 Thierry Hupond, 38 Simon Yates, 51 Kiel Reijnen, 64 Will Routley, 77 Jacob Rathe, 85 Jim Stemper, 97 Ryan Roth, 102 Robin Carpenter, 112 Zach Bell, 117 Eric Marcotte, 125 James Oram, and 128 Ruben Zepuntke.