Rathe started Stage Three in yellow after winning Stage One and keeping the lead after Stage Two. His teammates Lawson Craddock and Nathan Brown sat 12th and 13th, ready to help Rathe's cause. Bend's Ian Boswell was 78th after nursing a bad knee.But things went a little south today when the large homegrown contingent of Germans decided to take control of the race and dominated all but two of the top 10 spots. The local press worded it this way ... "Deutsche Dominanz: Ron Pfeifer siegt in Wehr."
Ron Pfeifer, who sat in second place overall just four seconds behind Rathe coming into the stage, made it into a breakaway with no American riders. The USA boys went to the front and eventually pulled back a chase group and nearly half a minute on the leaders, but it wasn't enough to save Rathe's yellow jersey. Rathe finished in the first chase group but lost enough time to fall to fourth, 43 seconds back. The team moved down to fifth on GC with one stage remaining. Boswell eventually abandoned.
OVERALL RESULTS
Rothaus Regio-Tour
After Three Stages
1. Pfeifer, Ron GER 07.48.12
2. Krieger, Alexander GER 07.48.44 +32
3. Sütterlin, Jasha GER 07.48.52 +40
4. Rathe, Jacob L. USA U.S.A. Nat. 07.48.55 +43
5. Lergenmüller, Tobias GER 07.49.03 +51
6. Krauwel, Bas NED 07.49.06 +54
7. Schlichenmaier, Tim GER 07.49.18 +1.06
8. Fricke, Tassilo GER 07.49.30 +1.18
9. Freienstein, Raphael GER 07.49.32 +1.20
10. Ansari, David GER 07.50.10 +1.58
USA Cycling National Team riders
42. Eastman, Ryan P. USA 07.53.48 +5.36
57. Craddock, Lawson G. USA 07.55.02 +6.50
75. Mannion, Gavin J. USA 07.58.27 +10.15
81. Brown, Nathan USA 07.59.35 +11.23
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