After his excellent sixth place in the time trial, Tiago Machado (NetApp-Endura) had positioned himself as one of Bradley Wiggins' biggest threats in the Tour of California and yesterday he performed excellently in the queen stage to reduce his deficit. By finishing second on Mount Diablo, he moved into third overall and now hopes to defend his spot on the podium.
The first mountain-top-finish of this year’s Tour of California was held on stage 3 today. Tiago Machado from Team NetApp – Endura climbed to a great second place on Mount Diablo after racing 174,5 kilometers.
With this great result the 28-years old Portuguese confirmed the Team’s success from last year, when Leo Koenig won this stage. Machado was only defeated by Rohan Dennis (Garmin – Sharp) who has reduced the gap to Bradley Wiggins (Sky), the leader in the overall classification. Machado is currently ranked 3rd in the GC.
“Our goal was to repeat our success from last year and we came very close," Alex Sans Vega, Sports Director of Team NetApp – Endura, said ."Above we wanted to be well represented in the breakaway today, as our main sponsor NetApp was seeing the race with many guests.
"In the final, Sky put on a really high pace, which was good for Tiago because he is strong under these conditions. It was of advantage that we knew the climb. We agreed in the morning already that we would wait till the last 400 meters because they are the steepest.
"Tiago did well and we are very happy with his second place. We are in a good position in the GC and now it’s our goal to defend this position."
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