Nicolas Roche put in a massive attack on the summit finish, catching and passing lone leader Eduardo Zardini. But it was the Italian who came back at him to take the stage and yellow jersey.
Just one day after sprinter Sam Bennett (NetApp-Endura) took 3rd place on the kind of seafront stage finish in the Tour of Britain that it's Milk Race forefather was renowned for, Nicolas Roche has taken up the Irish cause with another podium result.
This time the finishing terrain was one for the climbers, with stage 3 coming to a close atop the cat 1 Tumble ascent.
And but for going too early, and riding gears that looked very high for the steep gradient, Roche could have been the stage winner and been in yellow this evening.
Instead, he fluffed his lines in the closing stages, perhaps underestimating the difficulty of the climb.
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After he had caught and dropped lone leader Eduardo Zardini (Bardiani), Roche slowed a little and let the 24-year-old Italian back onto his wheel.
Zardini gathered himself for a few hundred metres before attacking Roche with 1km remaining and going on to take the stage win, with Roche being forced to settle for 3rd after being caught and passed by Kwiatkowski (Omega Pharma-Quickstep) just before the line.
Roche let rip on the summit finish today but while he just missed out on a stage win, he is now well placed for an assault on the yellow jersey.
How it happened
While all the talk in recent days has been of Bradley Wiggins' desire to retain the Tour of Britain he won last year, the Team Sky man looked to be under pressure up The Tumble, although he sits in a potentially racing winning position this evening especially with a time trial still to come.
Roche's Tinkoff-Saxo team took up position at the head of the intact bunch as the field hit the final 4km climb up to the finish and the early escapees had been caught; An Post-Chainreaction rider Mark McNally yet again getting in the early escape and building his lead in the climbers' classification.
Despite Tinkoff-Saxo clearly out to set up Roche, it was Jack Bauer of Garmin Sharp and Zardini who set the early running on the climb; attacking in a two man move with just over 3km remaining.
Bauer was unable to contribute to the steady efforts of his Italian breakaway partner; the duo never building much of a lead. And the Canadian was promptly dropped and caught by the main field.
That left Zardini out from on his own with just over 2km to the finish and a gap of 15 seconds to the bunch.
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Roche has been very popular so far in Britain, though the timing of his finishing burst today was too much too soon (Photo: Larry Hickmott – VeloUK.net)
At that point it was Roche who sprung from the peloton, pushing a huge gear and immediately making a big impact. He had distanced the reduced bunch in no time, and caught and dropped Zardini with 1.8km remaining.
There was carnage behind, with Team Sky and Wiggins apparently drifting from the front of the action as the main field disintegrated under the pressure of Roche and the scatter after him.
Up front, Roche perhaps paid the price for pushing such big gears, with Zardini catching him as an elite group formed off the front of the fragmenting main bunch just behind the two leaders.
And with 1.3km remaining, Zardini attacked Roche; pedaling more fluidly than the Irishman and opening a gap on him immediately.
He then proceeded to ride up the remainder of the packed climb to take the stage and the yellow jersey.
Nine seconds after he crossed he finished, Michal Kwiatkowski (Omega Pharma-Quickstep) came home in 2nd, having dropped the rest of the select group and caught and passed Roche, with the Irishman in 3rd place a further two seconds back.
Belgian rider Dylan Teuns (BMC) came in 4th on the same time as Roche, with Wiggins recovering well from a laboured ride early on the climb to take 5th place a further three seconds adrift.
The result leaves Zardini in the yellow jersey by 13 seconds from Kwiatkowski, with Roche in third overall some 17 seconds off the lead and Wiggins loitering with intent in 5th place, 24 seconds down and with his TT speciality event still to come next Sunday.
However, there is a lot of racing to come before then, meaning Roche, not to mention Bennett and the An Post-Chainreaction Irish duo of Ryan Mullen and Jack Wilson, should have more opportunities to impose themselves on the racing.
Today, Mullen came home in a pretty decent 46th place; a more than solid ride for a non-climber. Wilson survived again despite crashing hard yesterday, finishing in 86th spot today 8:02 down.
Bennett indicated in his Tour of Britain diary that he would be keeping his powder dry today, doing a good job of that in 115 place; third from last and 11:19 down but with stage win rather than overall aspirations.
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