Etoile de Besseges: Sarreau wins stage 3

Marc Sarreau (Groupama-FDJ) won stage 3 of the Étoile de Bessèges, beating Christophe Laporte (Cofidis) and Mikel Aristi (Euskadi-Murias) to the line at the bunch sprint in Bessèges. Second for Laporte was enough to maintain his lead in the overall classification ahead of Bryan Coquard (Vital Concept-B&B Hotels).

The 25-year-old Sarreau launched his sprint early to surprise the rest of the peloton and crossed the line by a clear bike length. The result gave the Groupama-FDJ squad their first victory of the 2019 season.

Super aggressive racing for much of the largely flat stage saw attacks come and go but a breakaway was unable to establish itself until the final 50 kilometres of racing. In the end, six men were able to get away from the peloton. They managed to establish a modest gap but the sprint teams were working hard behind them and it never quite reached a minute.

The escapees were Axel Domont (AG2R La Mondiale), Anthony Turgis (Direct Énergie), Quentin Pacher (Vital Concept-B&B Hotels), Evaldas Šiškevičius (Delko Marseille Provence), Eliot Lietaer (Wallonie-Bruxelles) and Alo Jakin (St Michel-Auber 93). Heading into the final 10km, the group remained out front, still fighting with a 20-second gap.

It was always a tough ask to hold off the peloton on the flat run-in though, and the six were duly caught with four kilometres to race. Loïc Vliegen (Wanty-Groupe Gobert) and Maxime Monfort (Lotto Soudal) launched a counter-attack heading into the final two kilometres, but it was not to be and they were soon brought back by the bunch.

The Vital Concept train hit the front as the peloton passed under the flame rouge, and it looked like being a Coquard vs Laporte showdown once again. Groupama-FDJ had other ideas though, with Sarreau opting to go long and holding his speed to the line for his first win since May 2018.

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