Paris - Nice 2018: Stage 3

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January 1 - March 11, Bourges, France, Road - WorldTour

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Welcome to live coverage of stage 3 of Paris-Nice

Race preview

Good morning and welcome to stage 3 of Paris-Nice. The riders have just rolled out of Bourges for the neutral start.

At 210 kilometres, today's stage is the longest of the whole race and takes in three categorised climbs along the course. 

After no break for more than two hours yesterday, today sees a move go up the road right from the gun. Three riders have broken clear and they are: Jay Thomson (Dimension Data), Fabien Grellier (Direct Energie) and Przemyslaw Kasperkiewicz (Delko Marseille Provence).

The peloton seems more than happy with the make-up of that move and they've been allowed a gap of 1:55 and it's growing. 

After Arnaud Demare took a surprise win on day one, the winner on day two was a little less of a shock to the system. Dylan Groenewegen took his fifth victory of the year with a strong sprint finish to beat Elia Viviani. 

There was a small gap in the slightly uphill finish yesterday but with the new three-second rule, the whole peloton was given the same time. Thanks to some bonus seconds at the intermediate sprint, Demare still managed to extend his overall lead yesterday.

198km remaining from 210km

It's only eight degrees out there but there is some blue sky and it's dry.

FDJ, or Groupama-FDJ as we should call them now, has turned up the pace on the front of the bunch a bit. They've let the escapees have their fun and now they want to bring them back to a much nicer gap. 

Despite the little uptick in pace, the gap is now at 7 minutes for the three leaders. Enough time to make a cup of tea and carry on, if you so wished. 

It has been a little more than 24 hours since the DCMS released a report on the findings of a two-year long investigation into doping in sport. There continues to be fall out from it and yesterday evening Bradley Wiggins spoke to the BBC to give his side of the story. The former rider, and 2012 Tour de France winner, categorically denied any cheating. Read the full story here.

Floyd Landis also weighed in on the DCMS report, saying that he believed Wiggins should lose his Tour de France win - as Landis did after testing positive for elevated levels of testosterone. Read Landis' full comments here.

Back to the race in hand and Delko Merseille DS Andy Flickinger - who previously worked at Direct Energy - says that the plan was always to get Kasperkiewicz into the breakaway today. Although, he's not so sure that they'll get anything from it.

The gap to the breakaway is holding for now.

While much of the peloton is here in France, a large portion of it is also out in Italy for Tirreno-Adriatico. The race of the two seas begins tomorrow with a team time trial and we will have both Daniel Benson and Stephen Farrand over there covering events. See what we might expect over the next week of racing with our preview. 

172km remaining from 210km

The first 'difficulty' of the day will be the intermediate sprint in Le Brethon in around 20 kilometres. With three riders out front, there won't be any points, or seconds, available for the peloton behind. Yesterday we saw Julian Alaphilippe mop up some bonus seconds in the two intermediate sprints, while Arnaud Demare added to his overall tally. 

Coming with 19 kilometres remaining, the second intermediate sprint of the day could be an opportunity for the peloton to take points and seconds. However, it comes just after the top of a third category climb so that could change the complexion a little bit. The sprinters shouldn't get dropped on the climb, in theory, but it levels the playing field for someone such as Alaphilippe. 

Today's profile is an interesting one. Strictly speaking, it shouldn't be difficult enough to dispatch with the sprinters but the undulating roads and the rise towards the flamme rouge will make it a little bit harder. If the sprinters can remain at the front under the flamme rouge then they have a flat run to the line from there. In his current form, I wouldn't put it past Groenwegen to take another.

For reference, as you can't see it that well in the profile above, here is the profile of the final five kilometres. You can see perfectly how the road dips before rising up again for the final kilometre. 

FDJ continues to work on the front but it is fairly relaxed in the bunch as riders chat and have a laugh. Demare in his yellow jersey is close to the front with his teammates. The gap has grown back up to seven minutes. 

Away from the racing briefly and following the DCMS report, the UCI it will consider improvements to the TUE process.

Direct Energie DS Lylian Breton has indicated that their desire is to lay claim to the king of the mountains jersey today.

The leaders have gone through the intermediate sprint, with Thomson passing through in first, Kasperkiewicz in second and Grellier in third. 

The peloton is looking very relaxed out there.

Of the three riders out front, Dimension Data's Jay Thomson is the most experienced after turning professional in 2012 with UnitedHealthcare. Dimension Data has some good riders in their line-up for Paris-Nice but they're certainly not one of the big favourites. Paris-Nice stage winner Tom Jelte Slagter is their headline act, but they've also got guys like Ben King and Serge Pauwels who could get something out of this week. 

Kasperkiewicz is the newest addition to the professional peloton after signing with Delko Marseille for this season. The 24-year-old Polish rider was a stagiaire with Quick-Step Floors at the end of last season.

Grellier is in his third season as a professional after signing with Direct Energie in 2016. The 27-year-old has previously finished fifth at the Paris-Roubaix espoirs.

After two hours of racing, the average speed is a modest 37.9kph. We're running a bit behind schedule at the moment but that should balance out in the latter half of the stage. 

The feed zone is approaching quickly and the gap to the three leaders is expanding again. It is now 7:35, their largest gap thus far. 

It might not be that sunny out there but there are still plenty of sunglasses on show in the peloton. LottoNl-Jumbo have the new Shimano S-Phyre range with them here in Paris-Nice. Take a closer look at them here. 

Christian Pomer is the DS for Bora-Hansgrohe at Paris-Nice. He believes that today's finish is too hard for the pure sprinters but guys such as Demare could be in the mix. 

News just in that sprinters Phil Bauhaus and Sam Bennett have abandoned the race. 

With nothing for the sprinters in the coming days, they perhaps have decided to save themselves for other things. No official reason from the teams as to why the pair has called it quits.

Bennett and Bauhaus climbed off as the peloton went through the feed zone. Meanwhile, the bunch has closed the gap to the escapees to 5:50 as they near the first of three categorised climbs.

Team Sunweb has confirmed that the reason Phil Bauhaus climbed off in the feed zone was due to knee pain. 

Nairo Quintana will not make his European debut this season for another few weeks, at the Volta a Catalunya. The Movistar rider is at home training in Colombia and did an interview with the publication El Tiempo, where he said he's going to curtail his approach to racing in order to keep his best form for July and laid criticism at the door of Movistar for the  way they've approached a lot of races with him. Read the full story here.

Under 100km to go for the riders and the gap still hovers at 5:45. 

The breakaway is still plugging away and working together.

The riders are almost at the first ascent of the day, the third category Cote de la Bosse - a 2.3km climb that averages 5.1%.

With three third category climbs in the offing today, it is possible for one of these three to take the king of the mountains jersey for themselves. They would need to take the fill points in at least two of the climbs and a further point on the third, with Pierre Luc Perrichon the current leader in that classification on eight points.

As his DS hinted at a little earlier on, Grellier has gone for the KOM points and taken them. Kasperkiewicz took two points and Thomson the final one point. 

72km remaining from 210km

FDJ is still the dominant force at the front of the bunch as they look to keep Arnaud Demare safe. A few teams have pitched in but it has been the French team manning the peloton for most of the day. 

Over in the world of women's cycling, Canyon-SRAM team manager Ronny Lauke has spoken to Cyclingnews about his ambitions of winning the Giro Rosa this season. Read the full story here.

Grellier has gone on the attack on the second climb of the day as he hunts a few more mountains points. He's pulled out a gap of 35 seconds on his two companions with a kilometre to the top of the climb. 

64km remaining from 210km

With that little attack, Grellier took the four points. He's now just one point shy of taking the king of the mountains jersey. He's currently equal on points with Perichon and has kept his attack going. With so far to go, he would be better off waiting for Thomson and Kasperkiewicz, but there we are. 

De Gendt leading the bunch up the second climb of the day. 

Alexander Kristoff struggling to keep in touch with the peloton at the moment. He's been sitting at the back all day. The Norwegian is reportedly suffering with illness at the moment. 

After putting in a chase Kristoff has sat up. He just wants to make it to the finish. Right now though, he looks about the same colour as his European champion's kit. 

At the other end of proceedings, Grellier has a 55-second gap on the two riders behind him. It's a good effort for the Frenchman but it's a long way to the next climb. 

Groupama-FDJ and Lotto Soudal are working well together to try and bring the leaders back. Grellier is holding his advantage to the two chasers but the peloton is now just under three minutes back with 52km remaining. 

The riders can see the Puy-de-Dome in the distance. The climb was once a giant in the Tour de France but it's last appearance was in 1988. 

The final ascent of the day is not quite the Puy-de-Dome, but it could so a bit of damage to the peloton. It is 4.6km and averages 4.7%. 

46km remaining from 210km

A big effort from Alexander Kristoff to get back onto the peloton. He really wasn't looking very well before but he's managed to work his way through the cars to tag onto the back of the peloton. He was dropped on the flat so he might have a tough time keeping in touch on that last climb. 

Thomson and Kasperkiewicz have almost been brought back by the peloton. They're not fighting it and are just waiting for the peloton. 

Christophe Laporte has dropped back to the medical car briefly. 

42km remaining from 210km

Grellier is carrying on alone and probably questioning his life choices right now. I know the feeling. With just over 40 kilometres remaining, and 20 to the climb, he has just 1:12 on the peloton behind. 

Delko Marseille are among the teams working their way to the front of the peloton as the riders peel off the top layers ready for the most important part of the day. Grellier has seen his lead slashed to under a minute. 

37km remaining from 210km

Remember, the intermediate sprint comes just after the KOM so there will be plenty of teams interested in shutting this down and taking all the points available there. 

There are a number of teams on the front, including Team Sky, Cofidis, FDJ, Trek-Segafredo and more. Meanwhile, Grellier has been brought back to the peloton. 

The pace is high in the bunch and best young rider Marc Soler is sitting very close to the back. He needs to be careful not to get caught behind a crash in this difficult finish. 

32km remaining from 210km

John Degenkolb is making his way through the cars and there's a teammate on the back of the peloton waiting for him. He said last night that he hasn't been happy with his performance so far at Paris-Nice.

Race radio confirms that Degenkolb had a puncture. Not a great time for a mechanical problem. 

Stijn Vandenburgh the rider on the front of the peloton now for AG2R La Mondiale. He's had a tumble this week and has a bandage on his right leg, just below the knee. 

The bell doth toll. The riders have just passed through the finish line and are off on a loop around Châtel-Guyon. No attempts at a breakaway just yet. 

Omar Fraile has taken to the front for Astana and he's setting a very high pace as they start the climb proper. It's doing some damage and Nacer Bouhanni is already in trouble. 

Quick-Step push on too and Wout Poels has a mechanical problem. 

25km remaining from 210km

Wellens is going with Alaphilippe.

Demare has lost touch with the main group, but he could get back on the descent. 

Wellens is now with Alaphilippe and there are three riders behind chasing. There is still a while to go. 

24km remaining from 210km

One of the Astana riders is between the front group and the main chasers. It looks like Fuglsang. 

Alaphilippe crosses the KOM first with Wellens in his wheel and it is Fuglsang now with them. Meanwhile, Demare has lost a minute to those three. 

In the chasing group Gallopin and Soler appear to be there. BMC has Dylan Teuns and Astana also has Sanchez. 

21km remaining from 210km

The Alaphilippe group has been caught and Fuglsang has now gone on the attack. He's down on the GC after losing time on the opening stage. 

One of the Direct Energie riders has joined Fuglsang and we've also for a Bora-Hansgrohe trying to get across. Behind, it is Mitchelton-Scott doing the grunt work. 

It's all together at the front briefly as De Gregorio is the next to go on the attack. This leading group is still around 20 riders. 

Hivert and Sanchez have joined up with Di Gregorio. They have 14 seconds on the chasers while the yellow jersey of Arnaud Demare is only 50 seconds back. 

16km remaining from 210km

I'd say there are about 40 riders in the main group with Demare, but the chase to the riders in front has stalled a little bit. 

13km remaining from 210km

It looks like Yates is in that group, which is why Kreuziger is pulling. Magnus Cort is also up there, what a ride from him. He waves the TV bike away, he doesn't want Sanchez's group to be caught. 

9km remaining from 210km

Bahrain-Merida have no picked up the pace. They don't want to let this leading group away.

Only a few metres between groups two and three. Can these groups work together to bring the leaders back?

7km remaining from 210km

Finally Kreuziger is about to get some help from Machado. EF Education First also moving up towards the front. 

They need more than one team to work at this if they have any hope at bringing them back because Astana are doing such a good job at running interference. Lotto Soudal come up but Astana remain the second team in the bunch. 

AG2R La Mondiale coming in to help. The gap is still 56 seconds though. It is looking increasingly likely that these three could stay away. 

As the chase comes together, we lose our time gaps. The peloton is now in a long line as they do their best to close this down. Can they do it?

2km remaining from 210km

This is perhaps more about damage limitation because there is little chance that the peloton will be able to catch the three leaders. 

1km remaining from 210km

The Frenchman is quickly brought to heel. 

1km remaining from 210km

Sanchez is being forced to chase because Hivert is not coming through. 

Di Gregorio has been brought back again. Does he have any more energy?

Sanchez leads the sprint

But Hivert overtakes him and takes the win by a massive margin. 

Sanchez is second and Di Gregorio in third. 

Demare saves some face and takes the sprint from the peloton, beating Andre Greipel.

We await confirmation but Sanchez should be the new leader. He was only 15 seconds back this morning and by far the best placed ride in that move. 

Hivert has had a very good start to the season with two stages and the overall classification at the Tour du Haut Var last month. This is by far the biggest win of his career so far. 

This is confirmation of how it shook out at the end of the day. 

As predicted, Sanchez has taken the race lead

That gap is not terminal for the other general classification riders but they would not have wanted to give Sanchez a 30-odd-second advantage ahead of the time trial and the mountains at the end of this week. 

Jonathan Hivert had this to say after his victory.

And here is Hivert stepping onto the podium to receive his plaudits. 

The climbs were only small today but the general classification riders really tried to put a grenade into proceedings. Alaphilippe was once again aggressive today, but it didn't pay off this time out. Yesterday we saw him picking off bonus seconds and he tried it again today, but perhaps his attack was just a little too early. Once he had been caught, not many were interested in trying to help him chase though. We can expect him to carry on in an aggressive manner over the second half of the race, however.

This was Alaphilippe's attack over the final climb with Wellens hot on his heels.

Arnaud Demare might have lost the race lead but he's still got a substantial lead in the points competition. 

For full results, a report and a gallery from today's stage head over here. We will have brief highlights for you later once the elves over at ASO have finished cutting it.

Luis Leon Sanchez took control of Paris-Nice today, thanks to some good tactical work from his teammates. He might be a very experienced rider, but he admitted to being a little nervous coming into the finale.

And here is Luis Leon Sanchez in a passionate embrace with his new cuddly friend. 

A little more from Hivert on his victory today.

Tour de France race director Christian Prudhomme is out at Paris-Nice at the moment and he spoke with the French media about the on-going case surrounding Chris Froome. He said that the lack of decision was "completely grotesque". Read his comments here.

I am going to leave you with this shot of Jonathan Hivert crossing the line. 

That is it from our live coverage today. Tune in tomorrow for stage 4. If that wasn't enough, we also have live coverage of the opening team time trial at Tirreno-Adriatico.

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