The first mountaintop stage in the history of the Tour of Alberta took place on Friday’s stage 3 with an uphill finish at Miette Hot Springs in Jasper National Park. Team Katusha put most of the team on the front to drill the pace on the final climb, using rider after rider to break up the remaining riders and pare down the group. The results were good for Team Katusha, placing Sergey Lagutin in fourth place on the stage and moving him into third on the overall classification. He’s followed by teammates Simon Špilak in fifth and Ilnur Zakarin holding on for ninth on the GC.

"We tried to make a train with Alexey Tsatevich and Sergey Lagutin on the front, but it was a little more difficult for Tsatevich than it looked on paper so we ended up concentrating more on Lagutin and he did very well in the final five or six k’s. I think the GC will be decided tomorrow, so it’s important that we have guys up high in the classification. The weather was cold and rainy, but overall it was better than we expected. In general, we see ourselves here for training, but if we can get some results along the way, it’s welcome. Tomorrow is a long climb so we will look for Simon Špilak and Lagutin.  I believe Sergey will be able to stay with the first 10 riders and when Simon is having a good day he can fight for a win," said sports director Dmitry Konyshev.

A late attack from Tom-Jelte Slagter (Cannondale-Garmin) secured the win ahead of Bauke Mollema (Trek Factory Racing) with Adam Yates of Orica-GreenEge at 4-seconds. Katusha’s Sergey Lagutin took fourth place with teammate Simon Špilak taking ninth at 6- and 15-seconds respectively.

Mollema is the new race leader by six seconds to Adam Yates (Orica-GreenEdge) and 20-seconds to Lagutin.

The day started under cold, rainy and even snowy conditions from Grande Cache, as the peloton layered up for the 181,8 km stage that finished inside the beautiful Jasper National Park in the Canadian Rocky Mountains. Spectacular beauty was on tap all day, especially as the stage progressed and the weather improved, finishing in intermittent sunshine. A seven-man break went clear on the southern route heading straight for the national park, while the peloton settled in for the long trek to the hilltop.

The last breakaway rider was brought back on the final KOM with 11 km to go, setting up a flurry of attacks all controlled by Team Katusha. The strength in numbers put the team within striking distance for tomorrow’s next climbing stage.

Stage 4 takes place completely within the boundaries of Jasper National Park. The 162,1 km course begins in the town of Jasper and continues into the heart of the park for a three lap circuit that goes in part along the Icefield Parkway, an area dotted with ancient glaciers, waterfall, picnic spots and places to hike. It ends uphill at the Marmot Basin Ski Area.