Tunja, Colombia — The success of a solo breakaway on Stage 3 of the Vuelta a Colombia cost Rock Racing’s Oscar Sevilla one place in the overall standings, but the Spaniard remains less than a minute off the overall lead.
Sanitago Ojeda (Lottery Boyacá) won Tuesday’s 105.3-mile (169.5 km) race from Socorro to Tunja by three minutes and 30 seconds over Juan Pablo Wilches (Multirepuestos Bosa). Sevilla finished third in the field sprint of about 70 riders for fifth place on the stage, 3:43 behind Ojeda. He remains 42 seconds behind, in seventh place overall.
“Oscar is looking very strong and his confidence keeps growing,” Rock Racing Team Director Mariano Friedrick said.
Ojeda and two other breakaway riders led by more than five minutes at one point during Tuesday’s race, but the team of overall leader Carlos Ospina (GW-Shimano-EPM) worked together with Rock Racing and the Une Racing Team to reduce the gap. Ojeda soloed away from the two others to climb into second overall, four seconds behind Ospina.
“The plan was to keep Oscar safe at all times and have him just follow the main contenders,” Friedrick said. “The climbs weren’t that long, but we just kept going up the whole time.”
Sevilla’s Rock Racing teammates Victor Hugo Peña (59th overall, 5:26 behind) and Tyler Hamilton (80th overall, 20:35 behind) assisted with the chase to keep the breakaway in check.
Rock Racing started the 14-stage, 15-day race with seven riders but is down to four following Tuesday’s withdrawal of Adam Switters and Jeremiah Wiscovitch. Rock Racing’s Sergio Hernandez is 127th overall, 53:56 behind.
Wednesday’s Stage 4 travels 119.3 miles (192 km) from Tunja to La Vega. It includes three categorized climbs and three sprint competitions.
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