Breakaway trio go close

28 Jan 2017

Breakaway trio go close

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Jon Dibben, Christian Knees and Vasil Kiryienka all went close, but were denied victory on stage three of the Mallorca Challenge as Tim Wellens sealed consecutive wins, continuing Lotto-Soudal's dominance of the race.

Dibben and Knees launched their attack with 20 kilometres to go and extended their lead to 30 seconds before being reeled in by a Movistar-led peloton keen to position Alejandro Valverde ahead of the uphill finish at Mirador des Colomer. 

Kiryienka then led an even later charge to the line within 1km of the finish as he chased down a surging Wellens and passed the eventual winner, but was buffeted with headwinds and was caught by the chasing bunch just short of the line. 

 This opened the door for the very consistent Lotto-Soudal team to flood the top five as Valverde was edged out by Wellens, with Ties Benoot and Louis Vervaeke to maintain their 100 per cent winning record.

Ian Boswell was the highest placed Team Sky rider, finishing seven seconds behind the winner in eighth, ahead of David López (11th) and Kiryienka (14th).
Servais Knaven

Servais Knaven

It was a really good team performance today and we had a lot of riders up there at the end
Sport Director Servais Knaven hailed the combative spirit and was pleased about the consistent displays of so many of the team. 

He told TeamSky.com: “It was a really good team performance today and we had a lot of riders up there at the end.

“They [Christian and Jon] timed their break well and were able to get clear, but with so many top riders in the peloton it was always going to be difficult to win.

“Kiry nearly finished on the podium, but in the end he just lost out.”

With Lotto-Soudal dominating the race so far, Knaven reckons the signs are good for Team Sky and is aiming to get the team off the mark on the final day, adding: “Wellens is in excellent form and it won’t be easy to win, but if we perform the same again we will have a good chance tomorrow.”    
Christian Knees was part of the late break which nearly paid off

Christian Knees was part of the late break which nearly paid off

Results: 
1. Tim Wellens (Lotto-Soudal) 4:27:55
2. Alejandro Valverde (Movistar Team) s.t
3. Tiesj Benoot (Lotto-Soudal) s.t
4. Louis Vervaeke (Lotto-Soudal) s.t
5. David Belda (Burgos-BH) 4”
8. Ian Boswell (Team Sky) 7”