IAM Cycling rediscovered its good humor over the bucolic but treacherous roads at the Tour of Britain.  At the end of this third stage that covered over 200 kilometers, Sondre Holst Enger came very close to grabbing his second victory of the season, after having won the first stage at the Tour of Austria in July.  Elia Viviani (Sky), however, took advantage of the draft the young Holst Enger provided, and passed him at the wire, with Juan José Lobato (Movistar) and Matteo Trentin (Etixx-Quickste) just pipping the young Norwegian as well.

Overnight leader, Petr Vakoc (Etixx-Quickstep), was the victim of a crash with around four kilometers to go to the finish, and as a result, lost his lead in the race. Juan José Lobato became the new yellow jersey wearer.

Congratulated by all his teammates, and also pleased to have been able to be in the mix for the win, Sondre Holst Enger (21) explained how the final stretch unfolded. 

“Just after passing under the flamme rouge, I was not very well placed, and was blocked.  Jonas [Van Genechten] managed to re-position me, and I found myself going faster than the guys around me.  So I chose to make my sprint from there because I was not at all sure that I had the power to keep my position and still wait to go.  I really gave everything I had, and I found myself at the head of the race with 100 meters to the line.  I was not missing all that much to get the victory, but at this level, that’s still too much. 

"I have reviewed the video of the final sprint for this stage, and I am convinced that if I hadn’t gone so early, I could have won.  But you sometimes have to take risks in cycling in order to get the reward.  And then you miss the victory by almost nothing.  So I will celebrate this result, and think about how I can return the favor to my teammates throughout the rest of the week.”

Kjell Carlström, IAM Cycling directeur sportif at the Tour of Briatain along with Rubens Bertogliati, was happy to enjoy the team’s 66th top-5 place since the beginning of the season. 

“I am pleased to see them riding well.  Bad luck has really been attached to us these past couple of days.  Today, though, everything went as we imagined it in the team meeting this morning.  In the end Stefan Denifl and then Jonas Van Genechten rode well for Sondre.  This help launched his sprint just a little too fast. 

"There wasn’t much to do about it.  In fact, he had to launch his sprint with something like 400 meters to go because he was already at his top speed and refused to slow down for fear of losing everything.  It had nothing to do with a youthful error.  For his confidence, this 4th place is well timed. 

"We will still look to Wednesday’s stage, which in principle should also finish in a sprint; but this time we will look to build up Jonas Van Genechten’s chances, in order to offer him another opportunity to shine.”