Thüringen Rundfahrt, 2010

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Adrie Visser (HTC Columbia) was in the final break of the day and thanks to a great lead out from her team, she sprinted to victory on Stage 3 into Greiz. Iris Slappendel (Cervelo Test Team) was second ahead of Marta Bastianelli (Fennix-Petrogradets). 

The bunch stayed together for the first 50km of the race buit as it approached the first of the big climbs of the day, known locally as the "Hanka Berg" a group of 43 riders had formed. Over the top, it was Luisa Keller (HTC Columbia) who took the first of the points ahead of Irene van den Broek (Netherlands) closely followed by the race leader Olga Zabelinskaja (SAFI Pasta Zara). This lead group stayed together until the last climb of the day.

With 25km to go the lead group progressed through Elsterberg and Sarah Duester (Cervelo Test Team) attacked the group. The team of the leader Safi Pasta Zara, moved quickly to close the gap. HTC Columbia counter attacked and a lead group of 15 riders formed. This group included three HTC Columbia riders, Noemi Cantele, Visser and Keller, three from Gauss, Julia Martisova, Edita Puchinskaite and Elene Kuchinskaya, Trix Worrack (Noris Cycling), two from Fenix, Bastianelli and Marta Vilajosana Andreu, Slappendel (Cervelo Test Team), Zabelinskaja (Safi Pasta Zara) Andrea Bosman and Irene van den Broek (Netherlands), Petra Dijkman (Red Sun Cycling) and a lone rider from Jenatec-Spanner Brennstoffe, Birgit Sollner.

At Olbergrochlitz, the final climb of the day, Keller attacked the group and managed to get a 50m gap. Van den Broek and Kuchinskaya chased hard to bring the group back. As soon as they were caught HTC Columbia launched another attack. 

At 22km to go, it was Visser, Dijkman and Martisova who led and the chase group were 25 second behind. The yellow jersey, Zabelinskaja, Gauss,Feniz and Slappendel (Cervelo Test Team) chased hard to bring the group back together. With 15km to go, the leading group had 34 seconds on the chase.

With 5km to go, Keller attacked again and set up a fast descent into the final 1km. As the leader reach 500m to go, Cantele, Keller and Martisova set a blistering pace over the bridge to the finishing straight. Slappendel managed to get round Cantele and Martisova but could not catch Visser. Keller pulled off and Visser sprinted the last 250m to the finish. Bastianelli held on for third ahead of the yellow jersey. 

Keller was awarded the Most Active jersey. Lisa Brennauer (German National Team) leads the young rider competition, Irene van den Broek (Netherlands) moved into the lead in the Mountain jersey competition. Kuchinskaya (Gauss) holds the points jersey.

Adrie Visser (HTC-Columbia) blasted to her first victory for the team in the Thuringen Rundfahrt stage race in Germany on Thursday.  Visser was the fastest in a small group sprint that decided stage three of the race, a 128.7-kilometre circuit starting and finishing in Greiz.

"It was amazing, we were really strong and the because we had three we kept attacking after each other to break up the race. I'm feeling a lot more confident about my sprinting recently and that's made all the difference," said Visser.  [HTC-Columbia teammate] Ellen Van Dijk has given me some great leadouts recently and that's really helped, I've won field sprints here behind breakaways after up to 130 kilometres racing.  Today I was away in a group of 15 with [teammates] Luise [Keller] and Noemi Cantele, so we were in a very good position strategically.  It was a tough day, with maybe 1800 metres of climbing in total, but after doing well in the previous stages, I felt good."

"Luise attacked 1500 metres from the line, then Noemi led me through the pack from 500 metres to 200 metres to go.  After that all hard work all I had to do was lift myself out of the saddle and use all the power I've got to get the win."

"It's my first win as an HTC-Columbia rider and it's a very good feeling finally to get that victory," added Visser.  "Now we'll see what Noemi can do in the overall.  She's third overall and with tomorrow's 19-kilometre time trial and two more tough days after that, I think she's got a good chance."

Ronny Lauke (Team Director HTC Columbia) was very happy with the team, "We talked before the race and knew that we had to be on top of things. I am happy with the stage victory and the way the riders rode. we wanted to make it hard so that no one arrive to the finish fresh. We knew we were strong and had a chance today. Safi controlled the race and we needed to shakes things up," said Lauke.

Iris Slappendel (Cervelo Test Team) was disappointed not to win the sprint but happy with second on the stage, "That was tough today. The race was hard but even more difficult was Zabelinskaja from Safi. Columbia attacked and I also attacked with 5km to go but Zabelinskaya closed everything today, she is so strong. I tried in the sprint but that is not my strength. Columbia took the sprint really fast but I was able to get round Cantele and Keller but not Visser," said Slappendel

Marta Bastianelli (Feniz-Petrogradets) is returning to professional racing after a two year ban. She has come back in good form and finished third on the stage, "I am pleased to be back racing and today third was good after such a hard stage. I made the break and that was good," said Bastianelli.

Luisa Keller (HTC Columbia) worked hard for the team all day and was awarded the Most Active jersey. Keller is started to get some good form this year and was very happy with her performance, "I am really pleased. I have been coming good over the last two weeks. That was a hard day but I feel stronger each day and that is good," said Keller.

Irene van den Broek (Netherlands) climbed strongly on Stage 3 and moved herself up to the leader in the Mountain jersey, "I am pleased with my ride today. I started the season really late and finally I am starting to get some form, " said van den Broek

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