Tinkoff-Saxo's Peter Sagan claimed his fourth win of the season in an eventful 117km stage three at the Tour de Suisse, winning the downhill sprint to Olivone ahead of Katusha's Dani Moreno.
The stage may have been short, but that doesn't mean it was straight forward. With a testing climb of the Gotthard Pass coming almost straight out of the gate the riders weren't given much time to find their legs after the start line.
Marco Marcato (Wanty-Groupe Gobert) was the first of the three-man breakaway to buckle with 19km, leaving Stefan Denifl (IAM Cycling) and Branislau Samoilau (CCC Sprandi) to plough on as a pair.
Team Sky's Sergio Henao followed home favourite Michael Albasini in an attack up the final category three climb but both were soon brought back to the reduced peloton.
Albasini attacked once more with 3.5km to go, a move which led to a string of attacks and counter attacks in the peloton, including from FDJ pair Jerome Coppel and Steve Morabito.
But for all the attacking, Sagan remained patient and delivered the win for Tinkoff-Saxo, with Moreno finishing second in consecutive days.
Giant-Alpecin's Tom Dumloulin retains the leader's jersey by five seconds ahead of Moreno and Sagan, with Sky's Geraint Thomas falling to fourth, seven seconds back.
Tour de Suisse 2015 stage three: Quinto-Olivone, 117.3km
1. Peter Sagan (Svk) Tinkoff-Saxo, in 3-00-35
2. Daniel Moreno (Esp) Katusha, st
3. Thibaut Pinot (Fra) FDJ, st
4. Julian Arredondo (Col) Trek Factory Racing, st
5. Tom Dumoulin (Ned) Giant-Alpecin
6. Geraint Thomas (GBr) Team Sky, st
7. Jakob Fuglsang (Den) Astana, st
8. Esteban Chaves (Col) Orica-GreenEdge, st
9. Sergio Henao (Col) Team Sky, st
10. Juan Jose Rojas (Esp) Movistar, st
Overall classification after stage three
1. Tom Dumoulin (Ned) Giant-Alpecin, in 3-42-37
2. Daniel Moreno (Esp) Katusha, at 5 seconds
3. Peter Sagan (Svk) Tinkoff-Saxo, st
4. Geraint Thomas (GBr) Team Sky, at 7 seconds
5. Thibaut Pinot (Fra) FDJ, at 12 seconds
6. Jakob Fuglsang (Den) Astana, at 14 seconds
7. Steve Morabito (Sui) FDJ, at 15 seconds
8. Kristijan Durasek (Cro) Lampre-Merida at 18 seconds
9. Bob Jungels (Lux) Trek Factory Racing, at 19 seconds
10. Simon Spilak (Slo) Katusha, st
Thank you for reading 10 articles this month* Join now for unlimited access
Enjoy your first month for just £1 / $1 / €1
*Read 5 free articles per month without a subscription
Join now for unlimited access
Try first month for just £1 / $1 / €1
-
Eyeing the Olympic mountain bike race in Paris, Peter Sagan will retire from WorldTour racing at season's endFinishing how he started, the former road world champion will race one last mountain bike-focused year in 2024
-
Aleksandr Vlasov victorious on stage five of the Tour de Suisse as he moves into overall lead
The Bora-Hansgrohe rider launched a superior sprint in the final 200m as he just managed to hold onto the stage win
-
Daryl Impey takes victory on stage four of the Tour de Suisse
The South African won his first race since the 2019 Tour de France
-
Peter Sagan back to winning ways with victory on stage three of the Tour de Suisse
The Slovakian launched a powerful sprint to secure his first win in nine months
-
Peter Sagan rescued stranded cycling tourist in Gran Canaria who thought group of pros were a 'bunch of kids'
Along with three other pros, Sagan helped fix a 63-year-old's puncture in Gran Canaria
-
Peter Sagan tests positive for Covid for a second time
Three-time world champion and his brother, Juraj, have had their plans disrupted by virus
-
Peter Sagan expresses regret at incident with Monaco police: 'I wish to take this opportunity to convey my most sincere apologies'
Sagan was fined €5,000 for resisting arrest and injuring a police officer
-
Peter Sagan fined after incident with Monaco police when breaking Covid-19 curfew
The Slovakian star's representative said that he feared he would be "forced to be vaccinated" against Covid
