Vennell victorious, Veilleux moves into lead

Jeremy Vennell (Bissell) displayed his formidable time trial strengths, winning the 14km individual test against the clock with a time of 17:31 on stage three of the Fitchburg Longsjo Classic. The former New Zealand time trial champion narrowly beat Fly V Australia teammates Jay Thomson by three seconds and Darren Rolfe by four seconds.

David Veilleux (Kelly Benefit Strategies) moved into the overall lead by five seconds ahead of Thomson and six seconds over Vennell. The Fitchburg Longsjo Classic winner will be crowned following the fourth and final stage at the downtown criterium where time bonuses will no doubt play a big factor.

"I think my team can do a good job and I am confident that if we work together we can do it," said Veilleux. " Everyone on my team is in good shape and they have been working hard to get into the breakaways."

"This a good race for us and tomorrow will be the criterium and that is what we are good at," he added. "We are going to have to make sure we go for the sprint because the time bonus is going to be important. Even if we control the race all day, we need to make sure other riders don't get the time bonus."

The previous day's stage winner and race leader, Aurelien Passeron (Garneau Club Chaussures) slipped into fourth place overall, 28 seconds behind Veilleux. Race officials added a 20-second penalty onto his time for taking an "unintentional detour of the circuit constituting an advantage." The sanction didn't affect his place in the overall classification.

"I'm pretty happy with my time trial today," Veilleux added. "I think it went well and I managed to finish strong so I'm happy with that. The course was nice and always false-flat up hill or false-flat downhill and suited me very well."

Shanks disrupts Colavita-Baci winning streak

Former UCI individual pursuit world champion Alison Shanks (New Zealand National Team) put a dent in the Colavita-Baci domination of the Fitchburg Longsjo Classic when she won the stage three time trial on Sunday.

The New Zealander outpaced current race leader Cath Cheatley (Colavita-Baci p/b Cooking Light) by 12 seconds and Amber Rais (Kuota Speed Kueens) by an additional four seconds.

"I was pretty happy to stay that close to Alison in the time trial," said Cheatley. "She was a pursuit world champion and a very solid time trialist. Time trialing is one of Alison's specialities and she is here gearing up for the Commonwealth Games on the track in October. She was looking to come out here and knock out a solid time trial."

Cheatley continues to lead the overall classification by over a minute ahead of her teammate Rushlee Buchanan in second and Bron Ryan (Verducci Breakaway) in third. Cheatley's teammate Kelly Benjamin heads into the fourth and final stage, a fast-paced criterium, wearing the green jersey as the event's best sprinter.

"Anything can happen tomorrow but I am pretty confident that I can stay in yellow, that we can get another stage win and keep Kelly in the green jersey too," Cheatley said. "We are looking forward to another good race tomorrow."

The decisive 14km Courtyard by Marriott Fitchburg-South St Time Trial was held under sunny skies and warm temperatures. "It was really tough out there and the bumpy roads made it a bit uncomfortable," Cheatley explained. "It is the same course as last year but I couldn't remember it because it was so foggy that you couldn't see anything anyway.

The Fitchburg Longsjo Classic will conclude at the Workers' Credit Union Downtown Criterium tomorrow.