Tour de Suisse: Peter Sagan wins stage 3

17 June 2019 02:13
Peter Sagan (Bora-Hansgrohe) claimed his 17th career victory at the Tour de Suisse with a dominant sprint on the cobbled uphill finish in Murten on stage 3 on Monday, taking the overall lead in the process. The three-time world champion kicked hard with just over 100 metres to go on the cobbled incline and comfortably got the better of Elia Viviani (Deceuninck-QuickStep) and John Degenkolb (Trek-Segafredo). Having started the day second overall, tied on time with leader Kasper Asgreen (Deceuninck-QuickStep), Sagan moves into the yellow jersey thanks to the 10 bonus seconds he collected for the stage win.ADVERTISEMENT After finishing second on stage 2, leading home the bunch behind solo winner Luis Leon Sanchez (Astana), Sagan seemed determined to add to his impressive tally at the Swiss WorldTour race. While it was Viviani's and Degenkolb's teams who control of the peloton in the closing kilometres, it was he who asserted himself most forcefully and effectively. First of all he fought for the wheel of Viviani, who had Max Richeze and Michael Morkov leading in front of him in the last 2km, then he bullied Degenkolb off the wheel of his lead-out man Jasper Stuyven, who'd hit the front in the final kilometre. With positioning vital ahead of the left-hand corner that led into the final incline with 200 metres to go, that was the key moment. Sagan went through the bend and onto the cobbles in second wheel and, with a small gap having opened between he and Degenkolb, wasted no time in opening the taps. Using a smooth strip of road that ran through the cobbles, he surged clear, the incline suiting him perfectly, and won convincingly. "I'm happy with this stage win, my 17th at the Tour de Suisse, and the leader's yellow jersey," Sagan said. "I'd like to thank the whole team for their brilliant work, they controlled the race and placed me in a perfect spot for the victory. It was a very fast finale and quite hectic because everybody wanted to be in the front. When we crossed the finish line for the first time, it was clear to me that in order to have a chance at winning, I had to be in the first positions of the group before the last left turn. That's what we did and I was able to attack in the final stretch to get the victory." How it unfolded You can read more at Cyclingnews.com.read full article

Source: Cycling News