Wednesday’s stage of this year’s Tour of Alberta from Devon to Red Deer was as they say quick and dirty. With the riders traveling close to 50km/hr for the most part the race ended sooner than anticipated (which makes me thankful that I am OCD and need to be places hours in advance). The crowd was amazing and the action at the finish line didn’t disappoint.
The big surprise to me at least was the two man breakaway of Silvan Dillier of BMC and Serghei Tvetcov of JBC which upon arrival at the final three laps in Red Deer had a 1.45s lead on the peloton. It seemed as if the peloton didn’t act quickly enough to bring these two riders back out on the course resulting in an amazing win for Dillier with Tvetcov taking second and race leader Peter Sagan of Cannondale coming in 14 seconds behind but still retaining the yellow leader’s jersey.
Today’s route has a couple of good KOM hills and will run from Strathmore through Drumheller up Hwy 9 to Hwy 27 where it will head west then loop back down into Drumheller for a finish underneath the giant dinosaur. Those who travel to and through Drumheller will know what steep winding hills surround it and I am looking forward to being at the top of the hill on Hwy 9 to see the riders do some serious work then to catch them again down at the finish. Will Tom Jelte Slagter retain his KOM jersey today? Or will Tvetcov or one of the heavy-hitters step up and claim it? Stay tuned!
