Solid Teamwork Helps Lozano Finish with Favorites on Tour of Taiyuan Stage 3

28 May 2019

Race: Tour of Taiyuan, Stage 3

Start/Finish: Wutai/Wutai

Distance: 83.4 kilometers

Wutai, China — David Lozano kept a firm grip on his King of the Mountain Jersey on Stage 3 of Tour of Taiyuan and will head to the second part of the race in the Top10 in the overall classification.

The short 83.4 km stage comprised of three laps of a 27.8 km that included a climb called Wutai Mountain. A large breakaway of around 20 riders got away on the first lap but was always kept within the two minute range in a day when the peloton rode a fast paced race, well over the initial 47 km/h prediction.

Team Novo Nordisk rode preventively in the pack, sheltering Lozano and making sure he was always in a good position leading into the decisive kilometers. The last escapees were brought back before the Flame Rouge and the stage win was once again decided in a bunch sprint with Martin Laas (Team Illuminate) taking the spoils for the second day in a row.

Lozano crossed the finishing line safely in the main group and kept his Top10 position in the general classification which is still led by American Cameron Piper (Team Illuminate).

This Wednesday the world’s first all diabetes professional cycling team will tackle a hillier 87.2 km course that includes a Cat-2 climb where Lozano will be looking to cement his KOM leadership.

David Lozano

“Today the wind didn’t play as big of a factor as in the previous stages and the pace was really high. The team kept me protected so that i could finish in a good position and make sure I wasn’t caught behind any time splits as the General Classification is so close in terms of the top 10. Tomorrow will be an important stage in terms of our objective to keep the KOM jersey and hopefully I’ll have good legs and can increase my lead in this Mountains Classification.”