Feeling motivated after yesterday’s time trial win, Team KATUSHA’s Anton Vorobyev went for a repeat performance on Thursday’s stage 3 in the 64th Circuit Cycliste Sarthe. Vorobyev, age 25, made it two wins in as many days and brought the team tally to ten for the 2016 racing season. For the second time Anton Vorobyev was awarded the red jersey awarded to the daily winner in the 64th Circuit Cycliste Sarthe.
– Initially I didn’t plan to go in the break, I wanted to help Matvey Mamykin to try for himself. But I caught a small group and decided to continue. In the group we worked well. I thought to work during the stage to do something like a race training because I expected some hard climbs on the laps, but later Dmitry Konyshev told me to try to attack. When we passed the first lap I checked it and found a right place for attack, so on the second lap I knew exactly where to go. Of course I had a tough 60 km alone, but I want to say a big thank to Dmitry Konyshev, who helped me a lot, saying where to work more, where to recover a bit. His help was crucial today. The last kilometers were really hard, but I did my best to keep the gap and to win it. I am really happy, I feel like it is the way to continue. I want to thank the whole team for their support and trust, – said stage winner Anton Vorobyev.
– We had a plan to go in the break. First Matvey Mamykin tried, but could not go away. Later it was Anton and this time it was a successful break. The group was able to get a good gap, but later there was not enough speed to hold the gap so Anton decided to go solo and it was the right decision. He is in good form and alone he could hold really good speed. It was a very strong and smart race from Anton; I am very happy for him. This is a really nice victory, – said team director Dmitry Konyshev.
At 190,3km, the Queen’s stage from Angers to to Pré-en-Pail featured six 10km circuits that included the climbs of Côte de la Beucherie and Mont des Avaloirs. Vorobyev was part of a 4-man break that went clear after six kilometers of racing on a day of intermittent hail and sunshine. Vorobyev’s group held more than six minutes to the peloton.
In the local circuits, Vorobyev chose his moment to attack and went solo on the second lap to hold his advantage all the way to the finish line, winning ahead of Patrick Gretsch (AG2R La Mondiale) and Romain Hardy of Cofidis. Despite being in difficulties on the stage, steady work from his team kept Marc Fournier (FDJ) in the leader’s jersey with one stage still to race.
Team KATUSHA’s GC man Tiago Machado finished the stage in the main group, placing 13th. It allowed him to move up to 7th place in general classification, 2 minutes and 18 seconds behind the leader. Anton Vorobyev after today’s stage took the green jersey of the point classification. The final on Friday is 176km from Abbaye de l’Epau to Arnage.
