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2000 Tour de Burg Race Report--Stage 3

Sunday, 7-02-00

The Italian Joel Maynario grabbed his second straight stage win and sole possession of the leaders jersey this afternoon with a solid victory on one of the tour's toughest stages. Today's ride featured 1 sprint, a long hill climb timed section and 2 more sprints on the way home. The first sprint through the hilly farmland near Mt. Solon split the field early, leaving Vimpty, Maynario, Buschetti, and Buchness clear as they finished in that order. When the peloton entered the first timed section the temperatures were heating up and riders began to feel the exhaustion from such a grueling stage. Although Buschetti and Vimpty both rode a strong race, they were plagued with flat tires on the 18 mile climb up to the infamous Reddish Knob. The Belgian was able to hold onto to second place, putting on an impressive climb after he flatted early and lost contact with the lead group. As Maynario and Vimpty battled toward the top, World champion Jimi Stone was closing the gap but tore a sidewall shortly before Vimpty flatted and both were forced to watch the Italian dance to victory. The early dark horse in this year's tour, Von Keehner, put forth a strong effort toward the summit only to be thwarted by Buchness in the closing 300 meters. Von Keehner was able to pull into 3rd place in the general classification with today's strong ride. After all riders summitted the hor de categorie reddish knob the peloton proceed back towards Harrisonburg and the two remaining sprint bonus'. The pace escalated as the group neared the hamlet of Briery Branch, the location of the 2nd sprint line. Frenchman Tomas Jenkini was determined to pick up a bonus and made multiple attacks in the closing kilometers, encouraging other aspiring riders to do the same. Irish sprinting sensation Ryan Ketchum made a jump that almost stuck but was reeled in during the closing meters. It was still a large field as they came down to the last 200 meters and Russian strongman, Buchness launched a perfectly timed attack, to win the 2nd sprint ahead of Frenchy and the ever present Vimpty. After a brief stop at the feed zone the peloton headed into the final sprint on the outskirts of Dayton, Virginia. Again it was Frenchy launching early attacks but he quickly fell off the back and a strong pull by the Kiwi brought the group into the final 200 meters. Cosmo, trying to duplicate his victory in sprint 2, attacked on the left side again. This time he was covered by Vimpty and Scott, they both jumped ahead at the line finishing Vimpty, Scott, and Cosmo--a split second ahead of a surging pack. The general classification saw some drastic changes today, Maynario now enjoys over an eight minute lead and Von Keehner moved well into third. Today proved that many things can happen in the tour and no lead is safe. With 2 deadly mountain stages approaching riders are resting and making their mandatory visits to the drug tent.

Stage 3

1. Joel Maynard @ 3:45:00, 2. Paul Buschetti @ 4:03, 3. Miki Buchness @ 5:21, 4. James Von Keehner @ 6:43, 5. Jerome Vimpty @ 8:49, 6. (1) Susa Haysus @ 8:59, 7. Chris Scott @ 9:56, 8. Pat @ 12:46, 9. Tomas Jenkini @ 13:13, 10. Mikhail Hurlikoff @ 16:43, 11. Mark Myracle @ 16:49, 12. Tim Richardson @ 18:15, 13. Miguel Carpellini @ 20:39, 14. Ryan Ketchum @ 20:58, 15. Tomi Brothers @ 21:16, 16. Jimi Stone @ 30:00, 17. Christi Lentholo @ 30:00, 18. Mike Compraro @ 30:00, 19. (2) Sami Fornier @ 30:00,

General Classification:

1. Joel Maynario @ 8:30:53, 2. Jerome Vimpty @ 8:27, 3. James Von Keehner @ 14:29, 4. Micki Buchness @ 16:44 5. Chris Scott @ 17:21, 6. Shen Bi Co @ 28:15, 7. Susa Haysus @ 31:05, 8. Miguel Carpellini @ 35:43, 9. Christi Lhentholo @ 55:33, 10. Mark Myracle @ 51:59, 12. Sami Fournier @ 1:14:32