It’s still tighter an over-filled sausage casing. With that in mind, thanks to Breakaway Cafe, the new food-AND-coffee stop in the former location of Ec Coffee Bar. Breakaway Cafe; do you like goat cheese? You better! 

Wakeley took another stage win on a dry, dusty night on the Vasa, with Alex Vanias just behind once again. A lead group that included the pair and a much more punctual Sean Kickbush tore away early, leaving Einstein Racing-Short’s Brewing’s Cody Sovis to do much of the chasing behind. And the longer that happened, the further behind they got.

Josh Zelinski stepped in on a few occasions to help the effort, but with M22 swarming the chase with Matt and Keegan Myers, and Kyle MacDermaid also waiting to pounce, it was largely down to how fast Sovis could push over a 42×18 and not end up in the woods due to sand pits.

With no Susan Vigland, Kaitlyn Patterson was riding to see just how high up the overall GC she could ride, just barely missing the chase but still doing more than enough to take a big lead on the women’s GC, but pair with Vanias to stay in contention in the Team Competition.

The team that has never lost a Team Competition will rue May 19th. Like Friday the 13th for the Knights Templar, the date sees the end of an era, with Einstein Racing-Short’s Brewing now in dead last. Luke Tjosvold sat up after taking double points on the Truee de Madeleine’s confirming and extending a powerful Points Competition lead. His red jersey should pair nicely with his blue Mountains lead, giving ERSB leads in those competitions and the top spot (and last survivor) with Sovis’ lead in the SS category.

M22 has a commanding lead on the Team Competition. They’re sitting six minutes clear and now have four riders in the top ten, including the incredibly handsome Myers Brothers. Like Milli Vinilli, they’re certainly bringing the hits.

Perhaps the biggest revelation of 2016 has been the exponential growth of Braiden Voss. The young punk already went for a top fifteen last week, but showed the ability to learn and react on Stage Two. Tagged onto the chase, he measured his effort perfectly when he was briefly gapped, deftly using Cody Sovis’ desperate, flailing efforts on the Iceman Wall Bypass to regain contact, then scoot away through the dust and debris to stay in touch on the chase and take fourth on one of the toughest, fastest SOLs in history. He already became the youngest rider to score in any competition by being the second fastest time for Hagerty last week, a feat he topped by being fastest on Stage Two. The future in now.

Voss’ teammate Rob Goepfrich has a comfortable lead in the Best Old Rider category, now twelve minutes up on Keith Conway.

Stage Three rolls on with the only time bonus on offer for the whole of the Giro. The first five riders across the line will take 10, 8, 6, 4 and 2 seconds, and with Wakeley and Vanias sitting with just 2 seconds between them, it will almost surely be the decisive day of the race.

You can see the full SOL nightly results here. 

You can see the updated Giro Competition standings here.