Cycling: As the race to the sun slowly moves south, the stages become increasingly profiled. After an eventful 179 km, it was the Australian Michael Matthews (Orica GreenEdge) who won the sprint in an absolutely sovereign manner against Davide Cimolai (Lampre-Merida) and Giacomo Nizzolo (Trek Factory Racing). Degenkolb missed the top 10.
Today's third stage to Saint-Pourçain-sur-Sioule, with its shorter climbs, already offered a small foretaste of tomorrow's royal stage. It wasn't long before the first breakaway attempt was successful: Florian Vachon (Team Bretagne-Séche) broke away from the field after less than 10km and Philippe Gilbert (BMC) immediately grabbed his rear wheel. The leading duo was able to defend themselves against attacks from Bradley Wiggins or Antoine Duchesne, among others, and in the meantime pulled away by more than 5 minutes. But when the field briefly increased the number of strokes, their lead shrank to just over half a minute and Thomas Voeckler (Europcar) managed to catch up to the two. So the top duo became a trio that was able to break away again.
Philippe Gilbert set the tone in the leading group and was to secure a full 15 points for the mountains classification by the end. However, Gilbert was also the first to bow to the increasing pressure from the field and bid farewell to the breakaway group with 20km to go. After another 10km it was finally Vachon who was swallowed up by the field, leaving his compatriot Voeckler behind as a soloist. But this was not to last for long: Paolo Tiralongo (Astana), Jan Bakelandts and Romain Bardet (both ag2r La Mondiale) caught up with Voeckler, who, however, soon fell behind.
But the new top trio was also brought to their knees: the escape ended two kilometers before the line. Then came the time for the sprint trains: Orica GreenEdge, Giant-Alpecin, Trek Factory Racing, Katusha - they were all up front trying to get their fast guys in position. The Orica GreenEdge team clearly did the best job here: They irresistibly brought their husband Michael Matthews forward, who was then able to assert himself quite confidently against the two Italians Davide Cimolai and Giacomo Nizzolo. John Degenkolb and his team couldn't keep up the pace for the last 500m and couldn't be seen at the finish line.
In the overall standings, Michael Matthews pushed past Kwiatkowski to take the lead. The German duo Degenkolb and Martin are 3th and 8th, 4 and 5 seconds back respectively.
Paris – Nice, stage 3, final result
[easy table th=“0″]1.,Michael Matthews,AUS,Orica GreenEdge,04:32:12
2nd, Davide Cimolai, ITA, Lampre Merida,
3rd, Giacomo Nizzolo, ITA, Trek Factory Racing,
4th, Alexander Kristoff, NOR, Katusha,
5.,Jose Joaquin Rojas,SPA,Movistar,
6.,Matti Breschel,DEN,Tinkoff Saxo,
7th,Moreno Hofland,NED,LottoNL-Jumbo,
8th,Nacer Bouhanni,FRA,Cofidis,
9th, Bryan Coquard, FRA, Europcar,
10.,Arnaud Démare,FRA,FDJ,
[/easy table]Paris-Nice Appreciation, March 10th
[easy table th=“0″]1.,Michael Matthews,AUS,Orica GreenEdge,14:25:26
2nd, Michal Kwiatkowski, POL, Etixx – Quick Step, 0:00:01
3rd,Rohan Dennis,AUS,BMC Racing Team,
4th, John Degenkolb, GER, Team Giant-Alpecin, 0:00:03
5.,Tony Martin,GER,Etixx – Quick Step,0:00:08
6th, Luis Leon Sanchez, SPA, Astana Pro Team, 0:00:11
7th, Sylvain Chavanel, FRA, IAM Cycling,
8th,Tom Dumoulin,NED,Team Giant-Alpecin,0:00:14
9th,Geraint Thomas,GB,Team Sky,
10.,Philippe Gilbert,BEL,BMC,
[/easy table]
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