Serghei Tvetcov from Jelly Belly wins Stage 3 in Colorado

BMC Racing's Manuel Senni takes over race lead

It was another rain soaked stage in Colorado today, riders faced a tough 81 miles with some serious climbing up coal road.

In the end it was BMC Racing's Manuel Senni and Jelly Belly's Serghei Tvetcov that attacked and got away on the second ascent of the steep Gap Road KOM climb and built up a lead of 1m 5 seconds. 

A 22 man chase group including Brent Bookwalter ipursued the pair with 30km to go.

Senni and Tvetcov held their lead, and in the final sprint Tvetcov lead and crossed the line in triumphant victory ahead of new race leader Manuel Senni who finished second.

Behind, Alex Howes out sprinted Brent Bookwalter and Miguel Benito. All three riders moved up the GC standing from 3rd to 5th respectively.

Senni lifted the race jersey off the shoulders of TJ Eisenhart fromHolowesko-Citadel.

Stage four will once again highlight the start-and-finish area within the Velorama Festival grounds and sends riders on a 7.5-mile (12km) city circuit that stretches from RiNo to City Park and back. Riders will do 10 laps in the final stage, for a total of 74.6 miles (120.1 km) on what is expected to be a thrilling, intense and colorful final day of racing.

2017 Velorama Colorado Classic Stage 3 Top Ten

1 Serghei Tvetcov (Rou) Jelly Belly-Maxxis 3:02:45 
2 Manuel Senni (Ita) BMC Racing Team 0:00:01 
3 Travis Mccabe (USA) UnitedHealthcare Professional Cycling Team 0:00:54 
4 Marco Canola (Ita) Nippo - Vini Fantini   
5 Kiel Reijnen (USA) Trek-Segafredo   
6 Brent Bookwalter (USA) BMC Racing Team 0:00:55 
7 Alex Howes (USA) Cannondale-Drapac   
8 Valerio Conti (Ita) UAE Team Emirates   
9 Miguel Benito (Spa) Caja Rural-Seguros RGA 0:00:57 
10 Jhonatan Narváez (Ecu) Axeon Hagens Berman  

2017 Velorama Colorado Classic GC after Stage 3

1 Manuel Senni (Ita) BMC Racing Team
2 Serghei Tvetcov (Rou) Jelly Belly-Maxxis 
3 Alex Howes (USA) Cannondale-Drapac   
4 Brent Bookwalter (USA) BMC Racing Team 
5 Miguel Benito (Spa) Caja Rural-Seguros RGA 

VIDEO: 2017 Velorama Colorado Classic GC after Stage 3 Finish

#ColoradoClassic VIDEO: Serge Tsvetkov wins stage 3. Watch LIVE here --> https://t.co/TILFwzReWx pic.twitter.com/WaNxQXdGrK

— GranFondoGuide (@GranFondoGuide) August 12, 2017