Circuit de la Sarthe: Pedersen sprints to second victory of week on stage 3
Vauquelin and Cavendish round out podium



















Mads Pedersen produced another powerful sprint to win stage 3 of the Circuit Cycliste Sarthe - Pays de la Loire. The Trek-Segafredo rider accelerated early on the rising finish to catch and pass Kevin Vauquelin (Arkéa-Samsic) just a metre before the finish line.
Pedersen won by less than a wheel, with the French rider holding on for second and Mark Cavendish (QuickStep-AlphaVinyl) third after trying to come past Pedersen.
Thanks to his second stage win in three days, Pedersen extended his overall race lead. He leads Vauquelin, now in second place by 23 seconds, with Benoît Cosnefroy (AG2R Citroën) in third and Axel Zingle (Cofidis) fourth in the same time.
“It’s cool to win again, my team worked really hard for this,” Pedersen explained.“The guy from Arkea did a good move, so I had to do a long sprint. “I had to go early and hope to catch him. It worked out well for us. I passed him just five metres from the finish.
“It’s a good week, it’s nice to have good shape like this, especially with Paris-Roubaix coming up."
The 176.5km stage covered a long loop before seven laps around Sablé-sur-Sarthe. The wind and rain made for a hard day out for the 96 riders left in the race. Tim Declercq (QuickStep-AlphaVinyl) was a notable abandon, his team saying he was struggling with illness.
The stage again started fast with a break of six riders getting away and testing the peloton. In the move were Georg Steinhauser (EF Education-EasyPost), Paul Ourselin (TotalEnergies), Emiel Vermeulen (Go Sport-Roubaix Lille Métropole), Tony Hurel (St. Michel-Auber 93), Andrii Ponomar (Drone Hopper-Androni Giocattoli) and Laurent Pichon (Arkéa-Samsic).
They opened a 4:00 lead and kept it until 85km to go as the race passed through Sablé-sur-Sarthe. Trek-Segafreo lead the chase and the gap fell to 1:30 with 45km to go but the six held the same lead until 27km and two laps to go.In the final 10km, Steinhauser attacked alone and opened a 20-second gap on the high-speed peloton.
He looked set to hold off the chasers but as the road rose, his gap fell quickly. He was caught with a kilometre to go and then Vauquelin counter-attacked. He seemed set for victory until Pedersen went long and early to catch him on the line.
Pos. | Rider Name (Country) Team | Result |
---|---|---|
1 | Mads Pedersen (Den) Trek-Segafredo | |
2 | Kévin Vauquelin (Fra) Arkea-Samsic | |
3 | Mark Cavendish (GBr) Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl Team | |
4 | Paul Penhoët (Fra) Groupama-FDJ | |
5 | Hugo Hofstetter (Fra) Arkea-Samsic | |
6 | Olav Kooij (Ned) Jumbo-Visma | |
7 | Clement Venturini (Fra) AG2R Citroen Team | |
8 | Lorrenzo Manzin (Fra) TotalEnergies | |
9 | Marijn van den Berg (Ned) EF Education-EasyPost | |
10 | Thomas Boudat (Fra) Go Sport-Roubaix Lille Meropole |
Pos. | Rider Name (Country) Team | Result |
---|---|---|
1 | Mads Pedersen (Den) Trek-Segafredo | 12:37:48 |
2 | Kévin Vauquelin (Fra) Arkea-Samsic | 0:00:23 |
3 | Benoit Cosnefroy (Fra) AG2R Citroen Team | |
4 | Axel Zingle (Fra) Cofidis | |
5 | Lucas Plapp (Aus) Ineos Grenadiers | 0:00:28 |
6 | Alexis Gougeard (Fra) B&B Hotels-KTM | |
7 | Thibaut Pinot (Fra) Groupama-FDJ | 0:00:29 |
8 | Sean Quinn (USA) EF Education-EasyPost | 0:00:30 |
9 | Olav Kooij (Ned) Jumbo-Visma | 0:00:40 |
10 | Laurent Pichon (Fra) Arkea-Samsic | 0:00:41 |
The latest race content, interviews, features, reviews and expert buying guides, direct to your inbox!

Stephen is one of the most experienced member of the Cyclingnews team, having reported on professional cycling since 1994. He has been Head of News at Cyclingnews since 2022, before which he held the position of European editor since 2012 and previously worked for Reuters, Shift Active Media, and CyclingWeekly, among other publications.
Latest on Cyclingnews
-
'Not a realistic comparison' – Remco Evenepoel's right-hand man dismisses criticism of Soudal-QuickStep and comparisons with Tadej Pogačar's support squad
'We can't do more than our best. I am convinced that we are all at a high level' says Ilan Van Wilder -
Unlock our daily Tour de France newsletter with a Cyclingnews subscription
Insights from our team on the ground directly into your inbox each day -
'Be careful to predict something from the Dauphiné' – Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe staying calm over possible Tour de France revelation Florian Lipowitz
'His performance shows there's a lot in there, but it's just impossible to predict' says team chief of sports as German prepares to support Primož Roglič -
What's coming on Cyclingnews this July
Cyclingnews hits Grand Tour fever and lab testing the latest helmets on the market