Tour of California: Rohan Dennis wins atop Mount Diablo

Rohan Dennis (Garmin-Sharp) launched a late-race attack against a select group of climbers and sprinted to the Stage 3 victory atop Mount Diablo on Tuesday at the Tour of California. The Australian all-rounder crossed the line ahead of Tiago Machado (NetApp-Endura) and the event's best young rider Lawson Craddock (Giant-Shimano).

"Last year, at about three kilometers to go, I didn't have anything left," Dennis said. "This year, getting past that was a bonus. At two kilometers to go, I saw other people cracking around us and that gave me more confidence. We told Janier [Acevedo] to go in the last kilometer and a half to give us that final blow. He accelerated and then Adam Yates went. I decided to go and from then on I think it was just all or nothing."

Bradley Wiggins (Team Sky) lost time in the overall classification but is still leading the race by 24 seconds ahead of Dennis and 1:05 minutes to Machado, as the race heads into its fourth stage from Monterey to Cambria on Wednesday.

"This is the first time I've ridden in this heat in almost two years," Wiggins said. "It takes an adjustment. Actually, I'm a bit knackered. My mission was to be in a position to limit any losses and not explode. That's why I was riding tempo and making sure no one got up the road. The boys did a good job in this heat. We rode this climb over a week ago. It picked up in the last 300 meters and it's a tough climb. Every day is a tough day if you're in yellow."

An all-day breakaway came to an end on the slopes of Mount Diablo, the day's seven-kilometer final climb that included 17 percent grades. Team Sky drove the dwindled field up the climb and kept Wiggins in a position to respond to any attacks on the steep sections.

Wiggins showed himself at the front of the select group of climbers with six kilometers to go. Peter Stetina rode (BMC) directly on his wheel followed by Dennis, Machado, Craddock , Acevedo, Adam Yates (Orica-GreenEdge) along with Carter Jones (Optum p/b Kelly Benefit Startegies), David de la Cruz (NetApp-Endura), Laurens ten Dam (Belkin) and Matthew Busche (Trek Factory Racing).

Seconds after Jones was reabsorbed into the group, Acevedo, who placed third overall last year, launched the next attack. It looked to be the winning jump but Wiggins increased his speed and quickly brought him back.

Yates, the Tour of Turkey winner, was the next to go inside the final few hundred meters but his attack was quickly countered by Dennis, who sprinted to the Stage 3 victory.

Routley increases King of the Mountain lead on Mt. Hamilton

The peloton rolled to the start line in San Jose with pantyhose filled with ice cubes stuffed down the back of their jerseys to help keep them cool during Stage 3, where temperatures approached 100 Fahrenheit.

Going into the stage, Wiggins was leading the race by 44 seconds ahead of Dennis and an additional eight seconds to Taylor Phinney (BMC Racing).

A small group established a gap during the early kilometers that included mountains classification leader Will Routley (Optum p/b Kelly Benefit Strategies), who was looking to gain additional points on the day's initial ascent over Mount Hamilton.

Other riders in the breakaway included Maarten Wynants (Belkin), Jonny Clarke (UnitedHealthcare), Paul Voss (NetApp-Endura), David Lozano Riba (Novo Nordisk), Luis Davila (Jelly Belly p/b Maxxis), Robbie Squire (Jamis-Hagens Berman) and Ruben Zepuntke (Bissell Development).

Routley was the only rider in the breakaway with points in the mountains classification standings. He increased that lead after grabbing the full set of points at the top of first climb.

“I was able to get in the day's breakaway and comfortably won the sprint for the KOM on top of Mount Hamilton,” Routley said. “I’m all in to defend this KOM jersey for the week but I have also always wanted to win a stage at the Tour of California. I’ll definitely be looking for another breakaway this week and can hopefully choose the right one.”

Breakaway rider, Zepuntke, was the highest placed in the overall classification with a 2:42-minute deficit to Wiggins. As expected, Team Sky set the pace for the peloton, allowing the gap to lengthen to more than six minutes.

The stage also included an intermediate sprint in Livermore. Breakaway rider, Squire, picked up the full points at the day's intermediate sprint ahead of Davila and Wynants. It wasn't enough to make a dent in Mark Cavendish's (Omega Pharma-QuickStep) hold on the sprint standings with 15 points.

As the field approached the final 20km of the race, Bissell teammates Ryan Eastman and James Oram crashed, however, both were able to get back on their bikes and finish the race. Another crash took place closer to the base of the climb that included Brad Huff (Optum p/b Kelly Benefit Strategies), Matthew Hayman (Orica-GreenEdge) and Serghei Tvetcov (Jelly Belly p/b Maxxis), who was the team's designated climber.

Team Sky brought the gap down to three minutes heading into the base of the climb to Mount Diablo. A few of the riders dropped off pace but Wynants, Voss, Squire and Davila tried to hang onto their lead for as long as possible, at times attacking one another along the shallow base of the climb. Davila was the last to make a move but his efforts came to an end with five kilometers to go.

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