Howes wins Stage 3 at Tour of Alberta; Canada’s Jack Burke sixth overall

Alex Howes of the U.S. receives medical assisantce after crashing during the eleventh stage of the Tour de France cycling race over 162.5 kilometers (100.7 miles) with start in Carcassonne and finish in Montpellier, France, Wednesday, July 13, 2016. (Christophe Ena/AP)

EDMONTON — Alex Howes jumped from the field with about 300 metres to go and held off a chasing pack to win Stage 3 of the Tour of Alberta on Sunday.

The American outdistanced second-place finisher and teammate Wouter Wippert of the Netherlands. Wippert had won Stage 2 on Saturday.

"I jumped coming to the top of the final climb (up out of the River Valley) and was trying to lead out Wouter because I think he’s the top sprinter in the race," Howes said. "When I got a gap, he yelled to go for it so I kept going and held on."

Howes had won a stage during the Colorado Classic in August and accelerates at shorter climbs. That skill helped him entering the final kilometre.

American Evan Huffman finished with the group and retained his overall lead by 18 seconds over teammate Sepp Kuss. Howes moved up to a tie in third place with teammate Tom-Jelte Slagter of the Netherlands, at 31 seconds behind.

Jack Burke of Squamish, B.C., is the top Canadian and sixth overall. The 22-year-old is 35 seconds back of Huffman.

The Tour of Alberta finishes on Monday with a 123-kilometre circuit race through Centre City that starts and finishes at Churchill Square.

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