Visconti victorious in Marmaris

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Italy's Giovanni Visconti (ISD-Neri) won stage three at the Presidential Tour of Turkey in Marmaris on Tuesday and Estonia's Rein Taaramäe (Cofidis) took the overall race lead after a series of attacks on the last climb saw Germany's André Greipel (HTC-Columbia) lose contact and finish 22 seconds down.

Visconti got away with Simon Spilak (Lampre-Farnese Vini) and Cofidis riders David Moncoutié, Rein Taaramäe and Remi Pauriol on the last climb of the 166km stage, 10km from Marmaris.

The Cofidis trio tried to attack Visconti on the descent but he chased them down and still had the speed to win the sprint. Spilak took second and Taaramäe third.

Greipel and his young HTC-Columbia teammates had managed to control all the attacks in the final hour of racing and reeled in the early break by Maciej Bodnar (Liquigas), Nelson Oliveira (Xacobeo Galicia), Diego Caccia (ISD) und Adam Sznitko (CCC Polsat). However the well-drilled ISD-Neri team set a blistering pace on the final climb to set up Visconti. He jumped first and the five-man breakaway got the gap.

At the finish, Greipel initially thought he had done enough to keep the leader's blue jersey but thanks to the four-second time bonus for third place, Taaramäe, the current Estonian national champion, took it by just one second.

Visconti is now second at just one second overall. Greipel is third at six seconds. The USA's Tejay Van Garderen (HTC–Columbia) finished 13 seconds behind Visconti and slipped to fifth place, at 13 seconds.

Taaramäe and Cofidis will now have to defend their narrow lead on the two toughest stages in the year's Presidential Tour of Turkey. Wednesday's 209km fourth stage is another day in the hills from Marmaris to Pamukkale. Thursday 221km fifth stage is from Denizli to Fethiye and includes two climbs to over 1200 metres before a dive down to the finish at sea level.