Moreno Hofland underlined his status as the fastest rider in the Tour of Utah when he won yesterday's third stage of the Tour of Utah. As it had been the case, he finished off a textbook lead-out by his Belkin teammates who earned lots of praise from the stage winner.

Moreno Hofland struck again in the Tour of Utah on Wednesday. After having already sprinted to the first stage win, he also triumphed in the third one after 190 kilometres over Andrea Palini (Lampre-Merida) and Eric Young (Optum-Kelly Benefit) in Miller Motorsports Park. Team-mate Wilco Kelderman crossed the line in fifth.

“Again the lead-out was perfect,” said Hofland. “With two laps to go, United-Healthcare was in the front. We were able to profit from that. When we entered the final lap, we moved up next to them and we accelerated and left them behind. Thanks to Dennis van Winden, Jetse Bol and Robert Wagner, I was able to start the final corner in perfect position.

“The win in stage one gave us a lot of confidence and today we applied the same formula. The fifth stage could also end in a sprint, so we’re going to do our best for that one too.”

Sports Director Erik Dekker said, “After hard work of all eight men, it came down to the last 1500 meters, in which Moreno claimed the win and Wilco sprinted to fifth after playing bodyguard in Moreno’s wheel.”
 

The overall riders will be put to work on Thursday in stage four. Kelderman will have to tackle the North Ogden Divide climb twice before finishing on the steep Powder Mountain.

“It’s going to be a very important day,” said Dekker. “We’ll see how good everybody really is. We haven’t been able to see that yet, although we know the qualities of Wilco and a few others. Wilco finished fifth today and seems to be fine.”