Vuelta a España: Peter Sagan wins stage 3

Peter Sagan (Tinkoff-Saxo) ended his long spell of placings by winning the high-speed sprint into the centre of Málaga at the Vuelta a España.

The Giant-Alpecin team led out the sprint for John Degenkolb after a descent off the coastal highway but Sagan accelerated at the right moment with a violent kick, and with help from a tailwind, held off Nacer Bouhanni (Cofidis) at the line. The Frenchman finished second, with the German third. Jean-Pierre Drucker (BMC) was fourth, ahead of Maximiliano Richeze (Lampre-Merida).

Esteban Chaves (Orica-GreenEdge) finished safely in the peloton and so kept the race leader’s red jersey, five seconds ahead of Tom Dumoulin (Giant-Alpecin). Nicolas Roche (Team Sky) is third overall at 15 seconds, with his cousin Dan Martin (Cannondale-Garmin) fourth overall at 24 seconds.

It was Sagan’s first win since the Tour of California in May and his first win in a Grand Tour since the 2013 Tour de France.

“I’m very happy, I’ve got to say thanks to all my teammates because they did a good job. I’ve been trying to win for the team and I’m happy I finally did it. It’s a very nice day,” Sagan said before venting a little frustration on the teams who did not help chase the breakaway during the stage.

“Today only Orica and Tinkoff-Saxo pulled. I think we did a better job and I was very pissed that other teams didn’t pull for the sprint. Bouhanni and John Degenkolb only came in the last three kilometres. As a result we had to win today. I was on Degenkolb’s wheel and he started his sprint early, I think at 250m. He went one way and I went the other. The wind helped and it played into my hands.”

How it happened

The 158km stage included two nasty climbs and a late visit to the hills above Malaga but the stage was always expected to end with a sprint finish in the centre of Málaga, with the sprinters’ teams riding to ensure that was the case throughout the day.

Following the polemics of the team time trial and Vincenzo Nibali’s disqualification after Sunday’s finish, riders were keen to avoid any further issue at the start, with Chris Froome (Team Sky) offering a ‘no comment’ over the Italian’s expulsion. Only Caleb Ewan (Orica-GreenEdge) was happy to talk, pointing out that Nibali had been wrong to blame him for the crash.

After rolling out of Mijas, the break of the day formed early, with little resistance from the peloton.

Natnael Berhane (MTN-Qhubeka), Sylvain Chavanel (IAM Cycling), Omar Fraile (Caja Rural), Walter Pedraza Morales (Colombia), Martin Velits (Etixx-QuickStep), Alexid Gougeard (Ag2r), Ilia Koshevoy (Lampre-Merida) and Maarten Tjallingii (LottoNL-Jumbo) made it into the move. The peloton let them go and so they opened a three-minute lead on the slopes of the early Alto de Mijas, with Fraile leading the break over the top to take the climber’s points on the category three climb.

The gap stabilised on the long descent on the road back to Malaga, with the Orica-GreenEdge team of race leader Chaves riding tempo on the front.

The pace was steady but proved to be too much for Paolo Tiralongo (Astana). He crashed on Sunday and started the stage with 20 stitches above and below his left eye. He was determined to the start the stage but retired after 40km, accepting it was impossible to continue in the race.

After 76km Fraile was also the first to the summit of the longer Puerto de Leon climb and so took the polka dot jersey as the leader of the mountain’s competition from Walter Pedraza (Colombia), who was in the break but was only third to the summit.

The speed in the peloton picked up during the second half of the stage and the loop back to Malaga along the Mediterranean coast. Fortunately the sea breeze was light and the weather warm and sunny, limiting the dangers for the riders. Of course there were crashes, including one with 44km to go that saw Nacer Bouhanni go down with Daniele Bennati (Tinkoff-Saxo). Both had crashed on Sunday but both got up again and soon got back to the peloton.

Up front Chavanel won the intermediate sprint and so took three bonus seconds. The sprint inspired attacks in the break, with Tjallingii and Gougeard jumping away in search of further glory, while Fraile and the others faded back to the peloton, with Fraile happy to be in the polka-dot jersey and be awarded the most combative prize of the stage.

Tjallingii and Gougeard worked together and managed to push their lead to 1:40 but the peloton refused to let them go, with Tinkoff-Saxo doing much of the work behind. The Russian team upped the pace on the climb, with Giant-Alpecin also working for Degenkolb. Their efforts managed to crack Ewan, who was unable to stay with the front group.

As a result of their efforts, the break was reeled in like a fish on a line as the climb hurt the legs of Tjallingii and Gougeard. The Frenchman was the first to ease up on the climb, with Tjallingii shaking his head in a sign of pain just after as the riders entered the wide coastal highway that took them back to Malaga. Suddenly the peloton was all together and ready for the sprint.

Team Sky lead down the fast highway descent into Málaga, with a short tunnel and a sweeping bend lining out the riders going into the final two kilometres. Giant-Alpecin has three riders leading out Degenkolb and he launched his sprint at speed, with his head and shoulders bobbing in motion with his pedal stroke. However he was not fast enough to beat Sagan, who held off Bouhanni and finally hit the line first.

Tuesday’s 209km fourth stage is from Estepona to Vejer de la Frontera and could see a second consecutive Sagan win after his long drought. The stage concludes with a short but steep climb four kilometres from the finish and twisting roads to the line. It seems perfect for a second Sagan surge.

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