Hepburn takes second stage at Tour de l'Avenir

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Australia's Michael Hepburn claimed his second stage victory in four days, as his hot run of form continued on the mountainous Stage 3 of the Tour l'Avenir. The day was not so good for teammate Rohan Dennis who lost his overnight general classification lead after finishing 3:38 off the pace.

Hepburn's stage win moved him up the GC order from 15th to second, with Canada's David Boily 28 seconds ahead.

How it unfolded:

Any trepidation from Hepburn, "Time to test the laws of physics," he tweeted pre-race were lost over the course 166.5 kilometre stage, which was marked by five KOMs including the Cat. 1 Col de la Croix, two intermediate sprints and the last 50 kilometres in Switzerland.

The first two climbs, the Col de la Schlucht and the Grand Ballon at 1338 metres were dominated by Colombian Esteban Chaves, Spain's Garikoitz Bravo and Alexey Lutsenko of Kazakhstan who topped the points before Austrian Marco Haller shook things up besting the third climb of the day, the Col du Hundsrück.

As the race hit the flat, constant attacks split the peloton and crossing the border into Switzerland, seven riders went clear - Chaves, Christopher Juul-Jensen (Denmark), Mattia Cattaneo (Italy), Vegard Stake Laengen (Norway ), Jordi Simon (Spain), Boily and Hepburn. The Italian took the 15 points on offer on the Col de la Croix, followed by Juul-Jensen and Catteneo. Chaves claiming enough points on the stage to leapfrog Bravo in the mountains classification with three points the difference.

The uphill drag to the finish was won by Hepburn who sprinted clear of the breakaway group ahead of Simon and Juul-Jensen.