Pacing all day on stage 2 of the Tour of the Alps did not pay off, as Ineos Grenadiers came up with a "creative" plan on day 3 of the race, putting Filippo Ganna in the breakaway and forcing his GC rival to chase him.

The day was ultimately led by race leader Tobias Foss (Ineos Grenadiers), but the Norwegian was able to hold off stage winner and new green jersey winner Juan Pedro Lopez (Lidl-Trek) by 31 seconds in the final two stages The Norwegian showed great determination to close the gap of 31 seconds in the final two stages.

Rival teams DSM-Filmenig Post NL and Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale were forced to pick up the pace, making for a nearly perfect day, but sport director Zach Dempster admitted that the British team was one man short of completing its game plan. He admitted that the team was short.

"Teams should be prepared for us to race creatively, and today we did that," Dempster told Cycling News and Wieler Fritz after the finish.

"We ended up with two guys getting away and missing one to fully execute our plan.

With less than 110 km to go, Ganna attempted a solo breakaway, and the Italian powerhouse continued to lead, only to be caught at Schwatz, 27.8 km from the finish.

The frustration of missing the second stage was evident in Dempster's description of why he left one of the top riders alone on the coldest and wettest stage of the five-day race.

"We pulled all day yesterday in a headwind, and apparently no one was interested in winning the bike race except the riders in the break," Dempster said.

"So we sent him into the breakaway group and figured we'd better use him over the others.

Although they were no longer leading the race, the loss of the jersey removed responsibility from the British side and from Foss, who was second on GC, leaving Lidl-Trek to control the race with the younger riders. Foss told L'Equipe magazine after the race, "I don't have to control it anymore.

Foss, a former time trial world champion, "rode at his own pace," gradually pulling back attacks by Romain Bardet (DSM-Filmenig-Post NL) and others, and riding hard to limit Lopez's advantage at the finish, finishing third on the stage

"I was the only one who could make it to the finish.

"Like I said before the race, we really believe in him and that is why he is on the team," Dempster said.

"He had a complicated start, so I don't think putting pressure on him in the Tour of the Alps is the right approach. But at the same time we want to push the boat out and I think he's doing a really good job so far."

Foss will lead Ineos alone in the Tour of the Alps after Geraint Thomas dropped out of GC. He also took on the role of domestique on the flat roads, helping the Norwegian chase Lopez and Giulio Pellizzari (VF Group - Bardiani CSF - Faizane), who also dropped out.

"I think G gave him (Foss) a good job on the flat. We missed one guy to control the group, but at the end of the day Lopez and Pellazzari were super strong.

"I think he [Thomas] was suffering a little bit from the cold like everyone else, but realistically he was the only one in the group of 20. Tobias said, "I'm fine," and G willingly sacrificed himself."

Dempster, however, hoped that the experienced Welshman would continue to work hard after his work at Fos and achieve his big goal of heading to the Giro d'Italia next month.

"I hope he (Thomas) keeps pedaling. He's not close [to GC], but it's important to work hard every day, and today was definitely practice for the cold Giro stage.

The cold and rain played such a big role on the day that Dempster said, "It might be as big a factor as the climbs." The riders arrived shivering one and two, were forced to shake hands to restore circulation, and soon returned to warm up on the team bus.

The fourth stage back to Italy from Rives to Borgo Valsgana, with an elevation gain of nearly 4,000 meters, Lopez's advantage was far from safe.

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