Perez claims stage 3 in Luxembourg

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Cofidis' Anthony Perez nabbed stage 3 of the Tour de Luxembourg on Saturday, sprinting the victory on an uphill finish at Wiltz-Diekirch ahead of BMC's Greg Van Avermaet.

A four-man escape was brought back in the closing kilometres, putting the stage win into play for the pack. Van Avermaet led into the finale, but Perez surged past to take the stage win ahead of him, with Xandro Meurisse taking third.

Despite missing out on the stage win, Van Avermaet pulled on the race leader's jersey, taking over atop the GC leaderboard from BMC teammate Jean-Pierre Drucker, who finished over a minute back and dropped out of the top 10.

Van Avermaet was frustrated to settle for second on the stage, but tipped his cap to Perez.

"When you lose a race you always have to think about what you did right and what you did wrong. I am not really happy about coming second today," the Belgian said.

"The only thing I can say is that maybe I went a little too early and was a bit too confident. When [Anthony] Perez came next to me, I didn't have the power to keep him on my line. For sure I am not at 100 per cent yet, and it is normal that sometimes you get beaten. It was a really good finish for me, and I was pretty confident that I could do it but you have to admit when someone does a better job than you."

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