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.
Bernhard Eisel chases on Stage three of the 2015 Tour de Suisse
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.
Geraint Thomas on Stage three of the 2015 Tour de Suisse
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
Tom Dumoulin on Stage three of the 2015 Tour de Suisse
Mark Cavendish on Stage three of the 2015 Tour de Suisse
The peloton on Stage three of the 2015 Tour de Suisse
