Evan Huffman (Rally) took the biggest win of his short career when he emerged as the strongest in a very fast third stage of the Tour of Alberta. Having joined Robin Carpenter (Holowesko) in a strong attack in the final 10km, he finally beat his companion in the sprint to take both the stage win and the leader’s jersey. Kris Dahl (Silber) beat Bauke Mollema (Trek) in the sprint for third.

In 2013, Evan Huffman signed a contract with the Astana team who hoped to turn the time trial specialist into a major rider on the WorldTour. However, the two years at the highest level ended in disappointment for the young American and in 2015 he returned to the US and the domestic circuit.

After one year at the lower level, Huffman joined the Rally team and this year he has started to show the potential that he once had. During the season, he has been second in a stage at Coppi e Bartali and the Tour of California where he also won the mountains classification.

Today things finally came together for Huffman who took the big breakthrough win with an impressive performance on a very fast third stage of the Tour Alberta. He had already shown his form by making it into the front group on the first stage and yesterday he attacked in the finale to take fourth on the stage and take back a few second.

Today Huffman tried again with a late move 10km from the finish. Today he got Robin Carpenter for company and the two time triallists worked well together to build a 20-second advantage. With all teams on their knees after the aggressive stage, no one could bring them back and finally Huffman beat his companion in the sprint.

After yesterday’s flat stage, the riders faced the famous dirt roads on stage 3 where the riders traveled 181.2km from Clearwater County to Drayton Valley. The terrain was predominantly flat and only includes two small climbs, one at the 31.4km mark and one just before the finishing circuit with 20.1km to go. There was a total amount of 7km of gravel early in the stage and In the end, the riders will do three laps of a very technical, flat circuit.

Unlike yesterday, the riders had great conditions when they gathered for the start and just like in the past two stages, it became a very fast opening phase. Nine riders soon got a small advantage but after 6km of racing, it was all back together.

No one had managed to escape at the 15km mark but moments later, Gregory Rast (Trek), Michael Woods (Cannondale), Luke Keough (Unitedhealthcare), Dan Summerhill (Unitedheatlhcare), Phil O’Donnell (Axeon), Justin Oien (Axeon), Joseph Lewis (Holowesko), Pierrick Naud (Rally), Thomas Soladay (Rally), Ben Perry (Silber), Francisco Mancebo (Skydive) and Ed Walsh (Canada) had built an advantage of 20 seconds.

As the riders approached the gravel section, the fight for position intensified and so the break was brought back shortly after the returned to the tarmac. Hence, the peloton was still together as they hit the first climb where KOM leader Danilo Celano (Amore e Vita) beat Peter Stetina (Trek), Matthew Busche (Unitedhealthcare), Lawson Craddock (Cannondale), Bauke Mollema (Trek), Antoine Duchesne (Canada) and Alex Howes (Cannondale) in the battle for the KOM points.

After the climb, Celano, Stetina, Busche and Craddock had a small gap but they were soon brought back. Phil Gaimon (Cannondale) then gave it a go but after 50km of racing, everything was back together. This opened the door for the GC riders to sprint for the bonus seconds in the first intermediate sprint, and it was Dan Eaton (Unitedhealthcare) who narrowly edged out Kristoffer Skjerping (Cannondale) and Jesse Anthony (Rally).

After the sprint, Huffman, Tyler Williams (Axeon), Andzs Flaksis (Holowesko) and Alex Howes (Cannondale) got an advantage of 10 seconds but they didn’t have any luck either. At the 70km mark, everything was back together.

After 100km of racing, the break was finally formed when six riders escaped before another three made it across. Stetina, Craddock, Toms Skujins (Cannondale), Chris Jones (Unitedhealthcare), Williams, Travis McCabe, Andrei Krasilnikau (both Holowesko), Danny Pate (Rally) and William Elliott (Canada) managed to get an advantage of 20 seconds and then the peloton finally slowed down. Duchesne and Bryan Lewis (Lupus) took off in pursuit.

The gap went out to more than 3 minutes before Axeon and Trek hit the front to control the situation. They slowly brought the chasers back after the pair had got to within 30 seconds of the lead but then started to lose ground.

Axeon and Trek didn’t want to catch the break and so Silber, Jelly Belly and Francisco Mancebo (Skydive) started to chase. While they worked to keep the gap between the 2- and 3-minute marks, Woods and Naud hit the deck and the latter was forced to abandon.

Elliot was dropped from the break which was still 2.30 ahead as they hit the final 30km. Silber, Jelly Belly and Mancebo were going full gas though and the balance finally started to tip. As they hit the final climb with 20km to go, the leaders only had 45 seconds.

While a few riders, including Celano, Matthieu Jeannes and Kristijan Koren, made unsuccessful  attacks from the peloton, the front group was whittled down to seven riders before Skujins beat Stetina, Krasilnikau and Williams in the KOM sprint, Craddock being the rider to be left behind.

After the climb, Gaimon, Busche and an Amore e Vita rider attacked and they passed McCabe who had decided to sit up. With 18km to go, they were just 20 seconds behind the leaders and it was evident that they would soon make it across.

As soon as the junction was made, Krasilnikau attacked but he failed to get clear and instead Gaimon have it a go. Busche, Williams and McCabe joined them before Pate also made the junction to make it a front quintet. At the same time, another two riders joined the chasers and so six riders had gathered behind the five leaders.

Gaimon took a huge turn on a small climb and this left McCabe behind. With no help, however, the quintet came back together and moments later the chasers also made the junction.

Bauke Mollema (Trek) was part of the group and so the peloton chased hard to bring things back together just before the first passage of the line with 12km to go. An Amore e Vita rider and Gaimon made an immediate attack just as they started the first lap but they had no luck and Angus Morton’s next attack was similarly ill-fated.

Gaimon and Axeon stated to ride on the front, trying to prevent anyone from attacking but they couldn’t stop the aggressive peloton. A Unitedhealthcare rider made the first move but it was Evan Huffman ((Rally) and Robin Carpenter (Hincapie) who escaped. Angus Morton (Jelly Belly) gave chase and made the junction just before they crossed the line to start the second lap.

With three strong GC riders on the attack, it was a dangerous move and this forced Axeon to chase hard. The small continental team was clearly on the defensive as the gap widened and was more than 15 seconds with 7km to go.

Morton was unable to keep up with his companions as he paid the price for his big effort to close the gap. However, Huffman and Carpenter pressed on and started the final 4km lap with an advantage of 20 seconds.

Silber and Unitedhealthcare were chasing desperately but they didn’t get much closer to the two leaders. Hence, the game of cat and mouse could start as the front duo hit the final kilometre.

Huffman looked back and realized that a small chase trio with Mollema, Kris Dahl (Silber) and Alex Cataford (Silber) was getting close and so made a big gamble by launching a long sprint with more than 300m to go. He sprinted through the final turns and Carpenter had no response.  Hence, the American could sit up to celebrate the biggest win of his career. Four seconds later Dahl beat Huffman in the sprint for third, with Cataford arriving three seconds later. Eric Young (Rally) led the peloton home, 11 seconds behind the winner.

With the win, Huffman moves into the overall lead with a 2-second advantage over Carpenter, with Colin Joyce (Axeon) now third at 10 seconds. He now faces he most important stage in tomorrow’s time trial. At 12.1km, it’s a pretty short stage but in a race decided by seconds it is likely to be crucial. It is held in the city of Edmondton and is made up of long, straight roads without any major technical challenges. However, there’s a pretty tough climb of almost 2km after 7km of racing before the riders turn around and descend to the flat finish.