Dionne wins Fitchburg road race

Charles Dionne (Fly V Australia) sprinted to win the Fitchburg Longsjo Classic stage three victory Saturday. The French-Canadian went clear ahead of Rory Sutherland (OUCH p/b Maxxis) and David Boily (Probikepool/Kuota) on the circuit's steep climb to the finish line.

"Charles has been going well and he gaped me when he started his sprint, straight away," said Sutherland.

"It was 500 meters from the bottom to the finish line with a head wind and steep grades. Tom [Zirbel] and the Bissell guys held it together as best they could, they rode a great race and did everything right today."

Zirbel maintained his advantage in the overall classification thanks to his teammates's work in the 176-kilometre road race. He took the leader's jersey after the opening time trial and continues to lead ahead of Kelly Benefit Strategies' Zach Bell and his teammate Scott Zwizanski. Tomorrow is the fourth and final stage.

"On these kinds of a courses we knew it was all about small time gaps and time bonuses. We were happy with our performances coming out of the time trial but things have to really go our way to be able to win now," said Zach Bell. He finished ahead of Zirbel and moved closer to the overall lead.

The men's race started with 160 riders, but only 25 formed the finishing group. The Mount Wachusett Road race is noted as the event's queen stage for its climb up to the Wachusett ski resort. The event had to eliminate the notorious hilltop finish due to construction and use the notable 'feed-zone' climb outside the Princeton Centre.

After numerous attacks, a small group of four riders broke free. Strong headwinds made it difficult on the circuit's lengthy climb.

"There were a lot of big groups that didn't last long, they were shot down quickly," Sutherland said. "It doesn't go well for a break, but a team can rotate and bring things back pretty quickly."

Matt Wilson (Team Type 1) tried an attack with four laps to go. He remained off the front for 40 kilometres, but the group caught him with eight kilometres to the finish line.

"Team Type 1 wanted to attack the bunch and get in a move with our higher classification riders [Mike] Creed or [Darren] Lill, but there were a lot of guys trying to protect overall positions," Wilson said.

The small field was further reduced when Colavita-Sutter Home rallied their teammates at the front and launched sprinter Sebastian Haedo up the climb on the last lap. It was unlcear whether the sprint-heavy squad organized their bullets to further shatter the field or whether they mistakenly took a run at victory one lap too early. "We wanted to show that we are not only sprinters so we attacked on the climb because it was unexpected of us to do that," confirmed Sebastian Alexandre, the squad's directeur sprotif.

Bissell's remained strong on the front of the group. It had help from Kelly Benefit Strategies in the final kilometres to prevent other overall contenders moving up in the rankings.

Dvorak solo, Stevens furthers lead

Andrea Dvorak (Colavita-Sutter Home) won Fitchburg Longsjo Classic's stage three in the most convincing fashion – solo. She maintained a 15-second advantage over the chasing group. Race leader Evelyn Stevens (Lip Smackers) won the sprint for second ahead of Joelle Noumainville (Kenda).

"I won this race as a cat. four rider and that was in the back of my head today," said Dvorak who credits her good form to the difficult terrain surrounding her hometown of Crozet, Virginia.

"We are really happy as a team to have won yesterday and again today. Hopefully we will do that same tomorrow."

Evelyn Stevens added time to her overall lead by finishing second place and taking the time bonus. Stevens leads over Alison Powers (Team Type 1) and teammate Anne Samplonius with one stage remaining.

"I have so much to learn right now and I'm trying to take it one step at a time. I'm learning each race and getting advice and picking up on all the skills. It's all exciting and surprising and being the yellow jersey has given me a lot of confidence," said Stevens who began her careers as a cat. one rider at the beginning of the season.

The women's race competed six laps, 102 kilometres. Colavita-Sutter Home controlled the race for the first half to allow its rider and points' classification leader Kelly Benjamin to gather more points.

"We at least wanted to have one of our own riders go for the points on the climb. To take them away from other riders that might have wanted to go after Kelly's jersey," said Dvorak.

A escape of four made it clear on the fast descent with a lap and half to go. The escapees included Dvorak, her teammate Rachel Heal, Kelly Bradshaw (LipSmackers) and Nicole Evans (Value Act Capital). When the break away rounded the circuit's main climb, Dvorak put in one strong effort and looked back, surprised that she was alone.

"I put my head down and went, I did the entire last lap by myself."

Dvorak gained around one minute on the chasers.

"I passed the five-kilometre to go sign and my gap was dropping fast in the last kilometre. I knew at one point that the yellow jersey was chasing, but I never looked back because I thought it would show weakness."

A chase group formed behind Dvorak with overall contenders Stevens and Powers, along with Jeannie Longo (Vital Plus), Catherine Cheatley (Colavita-Sutter Home) and Kristin McGrath (Value Act Capital).