Periklis victorius in stage 3 of AlpenTour Trophy

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Greek road and mountain bike champion Ilias Periklis dominated the field in stage 3 of the 14th Alpentour Trophy.  At 73km, it was the longest stage. Periklis won ahead of the Austrian Alban Lakata,who moved up to second place in the general classification due to Urs Huber having a mechanical.

Periklis wanted to prove himself. Already after about 10 kilometres, he rode away from the group and extended his solo lead to four minutes. Until the final decent towards the Planai WM-Stadium, this lead shrunk only slightly, however, the 26-year-old reigned supreme at the finish line – his second stage win in two years at the Alpentour Trophy.

Just behind Periklis, Lakata was second. The former marathon world champion got off his bike and searched the event centre, “Where is Urs?” He was looking for the man who had been in second place in the GC. 

Huber, who had to get off his bike due to a back wheel problem on the second to last descent, lost valuable time and also his second overall place.

“It was again a hard day out there," said Lakata. “Everyone racing in the front is in great shape and the atmosphere is awesome. Hats off to the performance of the Greek rider. And also Kristian Hynek rode very strongly and is almost unbeatable for me this year. But I am happy that I was able to strengthen my second placing ahead of tomorrow’s final stage," he said.

Overall leader Hynek from the Czech Republic didn’t waste any time coming in third. “I was able to control the race well without pushing too hard. However, when Periklis had extended his lead to a four-minute gap, I encouraged my fellow racers to pick up the pace. We were able to reduce his lead considerably.”

In the elite women's category, Sally Bigham claimed her third win and leads the general classification.

In the elite masters's field, Bart Brentjens claimed his first stage win at the AlpenTour Trophy. He finished eight seconds ahead of the German rider Max Friedrich and about 4:30 ahead of the Austrian Georg Koch. Brentjens took over the lead in the general masters classification.

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