Alison Dunlap (USA, GT) and Jimena Florit-Juarez (ARG, Polo Sport) worked at the lead of the women's race, for a dominant performance from the two best female competitors. In the men's event it was the tag-team of GT's Roland Green and defending champion Jerome Chiotti leading out the field.

Alison Dunlap

The overall standings didn't change from yesterday, with Florit-Juarez and Chiotti still in the red leaders' jerseys, but with their powerful performances in stage three, each solidified their overall leads significantly.

The women went off at 11 a.m. for 15.5 miles of racing on this hillside figure eight. Half way into the first long climb, Juarez and Dunlap had a significant lead on Ruthie Matthes (USA, Trek Volkswagen), and worked together to keep it that way.

With the exception of a battle between Matthes and Ann Trombley (USA, Airborne/Kore) for third place, the order remained the same for an hour and a half, Dunlap and Juarez helping each other ride up and down the ski slopes of Steamboat Springs – each for their own reason.

Dunlap eventually won the race at the bottom of a fast descent; putting the hammer down on Juarez and securing her second stage win in two days. But until that last descent, it was a fully cooperative effort up front.

"I have a little bit of a gap now, and can race more relaxed tomorrow,it's still not over, I have to race smart tomorrow too..." —Jimena Florit-Juarez

"We were both feeling good on the climb, and that made the difference for me," Juarez said. "I know she could have pulled away early in the race – she had the legs – but she waited… I think she wanted to help me. I definitely thank her for that – it was really nice."

Juarez, who has held the leader's jersey since crushing the field in stage one, wanted to help Dunlap in the descents, as the two of them put time on Matthes, who is second overall and came into today's stage just six seconds from Juarez's lead.

"I have a little bit of a gap now, and can race more relaxed tomorrow," Juarez continued. "It's still not over, I have to race smart tomorrow too."

For Dunlap, the balancing act of riding hard and saving strength for next week's world cup finals had her taking it easy today, but still moving well up the hills.

"I felt really comfortable today – I was psyched," she said. "I was helping Jimena set the tempo up the first climb and she was letting me win the mountain sprints. At the end she said "go for the stage win," – up to that point I had just been sitting in. But yeah, I really wanted to help her get some time today. She really kicked our butts on the first day, so I'm happy for her."

Matthes finished third in the stage, but was more than two minutes off the lead, all but conceding the overall to Juarez. Dunlap did make up time in the overall, but still sits nearly four minutes off the wining time and now races to catch Matthes for second overall.

The Thunderhead circuit sent riders up a steep pitch to the mountain's gondola station, where hundreds of spectators rode the cable car to the mid-mountain feed zone, watching all the action unfold. Weather was ideal for the women – cool and cloudy – while the skies cleared for the men, making for warm conditions.

Roland Green

GT riders Roland Green and Jerome Chiotti thrived in the heat, burning up the 24-mile course to put significant time on any chasers. Like the women's leaders, these two also had their agendas and were happy to help each other out in the process.

"We worked together, and on the second lap I was struggling a bit," said Green. "Jerome waited, and I thought I felt a bonk coming on, and then I came out of it and I was able to follow Jerome up the climb. From there we worked together – it was so fun on the final descent, it was like moto-cross racing – what a great course."

Green came into the stage ranked third overall behind Leuchs and needed to put distance on the Kiwi to take second overall. Chiotti, meanwhile, also needed to add distance on Leuchs to help secure the overall.

"We had the strategy today, but you never know what will happen," Chiotti said. "So we worked together and decided if we came to the finish together we would try to maximize our gap over Kashi. I'm happy to have him on my team, because if he wasn't it would have been a very hard race today."

So the two rode together virtually for the entire race, as Steve Larsen (USA, L.L. Bean/Mongoose) chased hard in third. Leuchs, meanwhile, couldn't maintain contact with the leaders and gave up three and a half minutes in the race, falling back to third overall.

Tomorrow is the fourth and final stage, the Gondola Criterium, where time gaps will be small. Barring any major upsets, Chiotti and Juarez should maintain their overall leads for the championship, and a share of the $100,000 purse.

—Ari Cheren in the land of exploding pens, for MountainZone.com