Nicolas Roche showed he has the form to fight for overall victory in the Tour of Britain with an excellent third place on today's summit finish of the Tumble.
The Tinkoff Saxo rider attacked on the final climb, bridging across the lone leader Edoardo Zardini (Bardiani CSF). Roche moved past him and soon dropped the Italian, but appeared to get bogged down in the very big gear he was using and faded slightly before the top.
Zardini got past him and attacked to take the win; Roche was passed just before the line by the Polish rider Michal Kwiatkowski, but held on to take third, 11 seconds back.
When the time bonuses were factored into the overall classification, the Irishman ended up third overall, 17 seconds behind Zardini and four seconds adrift of Kwiatkowski.
Defending champion Bradley Wiggins (Sky) is 24 seconds off the yellow jersey. With a time trial taking place on the final day, Roche and the other riders will keep attacking to try to put further time into Wiggins.
Tour of Britain (2.HC)
Stage 3: Newtown - The Tumble: 1, Edoardo Zardini (Bardiani CSF) 179.7 kilometres in 4 hours 35 mins 2 secs; 2, M. Kwiatkowski (Omega Pharma-QuickStep) at 9 secs; 3, N. Roche (Tinkoff-Saxo) at 11 secs; 4, D. Teuns (BMC Racing Team) same time; 5, B. Wiggins (Team Sky) at 14 secs; 6, G. Visconti (Movistar Team)
Other Irish: 46, R. Mullen (An Post-Chainreaction) at 3 mins 40 secs; 86, J. Wilson (An Post-Chainreaction at 8 mins 2 secs; 115, S. Bennett (Team NetApp-Endura) at 11 mins 19 secs
General classification after stage 3: 1, Edoardo Zardini (Bardiani CSF) 11 hours 30 mins 21 secs; 2, M. Kwiatkowski (Omega Pharma-QuickStep) at 13 secs; 3, N. Roche (Tinkoff-Saxo) at 17 secs; 4, D. Teuns (BMC Racing Team) at 21 secs; 5, B. Wiggins (Team Sky) at 24 secs; 6, D. Lopez Garcia (Team Sky)
Other Irish: 50, R. Mullen (An Post-Chainreaction) at 4 mins 34 secs; 97, S. Bennett (Team NetApp-Endura) at 11 mins 45 secs; 112, J. Wilson (An Post-Chainreaction) at 20 mins 7 secs
Points classification: 1, Ben Swift (Team Sky) 25 pts; 2, M. Kwiatkowski (Omega Pharma-QuickStep) 24; 3, T. Farrar (Garmin-Sharp) 24; 4, N. Ruffoni (Bardiani CSF) 21; 5, S. Bennett (Team NetApp-Endura) 17
Mountains classification: 1, Mark McNally (An Post-Chainreaction) 35 pts; 2, M. Boaro (Tinkoff-Saxo) 14; 3, M. Kwiatkowski (Omega Pharma-QuickStep) 13; 4, E. Zardini (Bardiani CSF) 10; 5, N. Roche (Tinkoff-Saxo) 10
