Paris-Nice: Garcia Cortina wins stage 3

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Ivan Garcia Cortina (Bahrain-McLaren) won stage 3 of Paris-Nice after emerging victorious from a chaotic bunch finish in La Châtre. The Spaniard showed considerable strength on the slightly uphill finishing straight to hold off Peter Sagan (Bora-Hansgrohe) and claim the spoils, while Max Schachmann (Bora-Hansgrohe) finished safely in the front group to retain the yellow jersey of race leader.

The sprint was marred by a crash that saw Sam Bennett (Deceuninck-QuickStep) forced into the barriers with 200 metres ago after Hugo Hofstetter (Israel Start-Up Nation) appeared to clip the wheel of Caleb Ewan (Lotto Soudal), but Garcia Cortina was nonetheless full value for his victory in difficult conditions.

After finding a gap, Garcia Cortina opened his effort with a little over 100 metres to go, undeterred by the presence of Sagan on his rear wheel. Indeed, the three-time world champion never looked like coming past and had to settle for holding off Andrea Pasqualon (Circus-Groupe Gobert) for second. Cees Bol (Sunweb) took fourth ahead of Nacer Bouhanni (Arkea-Samsic).

"It's a surprise. There was a bit of chaos in the end. I found my place, a bit of space to go, and I had to go full, full gas to the end, and I could take the victory," Garcia Cortina said afterwards.

It was only the second victory of Gijon native's career after his triumph in Ventura on last year's Tour of California. Twelve months ago, he also came close to a stage win on this race in Bellegarde, losing out to Dylan Groenewegen in a bunch sprint. "It's a race I really like, so it's a really big victory," he said.

Sunweb and, particularly, Deceuninck-QuickStep were prominent on the run-in to La Châtre as they looked to tee up their sprinters. After picking up a bonus second at the intermediate sprint Julian Alaphilippe later set about working for Sam Bennett in the finale, and when he swung over with 1,600 metres remaining, Deceuninck-QuickStep occupied the first four places in the peloton.

The Belgian squad had hit the front a little too soon, however, and Bennett preferred to drift off the wheel of his lead-out man Michael Mørkøv shortly after the flamme rouge. With no single team now able to control affairs, a chaotic sprint ensued, and Bennett was removed from contention when Hofstetter lost control and slammed him against the barriers with 200m to go.

The Irish champion was able to remount and cross the line, albeit with just one hand on the bars. Ewan, meanwhile, was also impeded in the incident and unable to contest the sprint, having been guided through the closing kilometres by his new teammate John Degenkolb.

The long stage had been fought out largely into a headwind, which had limited the scope for the kind of echelons that blew the race apart on the opening two days, but navigating the narrow roads on the run-in to La Châtre proved a fraught experience nonetheless.

There were a number of jittery crashes in the final 50km, most notably with 6km to go, when Niki Terpstra (Total-Direct Energie) and Bryan Coquard (B&B Hotels-Vital Concept) were among the fallers. That incident briefly split the peloton, but the GC contenders were all part of the reduced front group that contested the finish.

"For the last 90 kilometres it was really difficult to just to secure the position in the front. Everybody was ready for a big crosswind action but it actually took place in the last eight kilometres," said the yellow jersey Schachmann, who holds a buffer of 13 seconds over Giacomo Nizzolo (NTT) and 24 over Jasper Stuyven (Trek-Segafredo).

He also extended his lead over dangerman Sergio Higuita (EF Pro Cycling) by 3 seconds. The Colombian champion lies 5th at 26 seconds ahead of Wednesday's 15km time in Saint-Amand-Montrond.

"I showed in the past I could ride good time trials. I want to defend this beautiful jersey," Schachmann said. "I'm going to try my best. Tomorrow is the next challenge. I'm going to give my best and then there are two hilly mountain stages. They will be the big showdown."

How it unfolded

The familiar elements are all in place – wind, rain and a nervous peloton – but this edition of Paris-Nice is not taking place under ordinary circumstances. As Jasper Stuyven put it when speaking with the Belgian media: "If you look around in the peloton, 90 percent assume that we will not get to Nice."

For the second day running, no spectators were permitted at the start area in accordance with French government's latest measures to limit the spread of the Covid-19 coronavirus, and there was a similarly muted beginning to proceedings when the race rolled out of Chalette-sur-Loing.

When Tom Devriendt (Circus-Wanty Gobert) slipped clear after four kilometres, nobody deigned to follow. The Belgian pressed on alone, undeterred by the prospect of sailing into a stiff headwind for much of the long road to the finish in La Châtre.

Within 40 kilometres, Devriendt had built up a buffer of some 9:20 over the peloton. Though he began the day more than 20 minutes off Max Schachmann's yellow jersey, the German's Bora-Hansgrohe team nonetheless set about putting limits on his advantage. Juraj Sagan performed the early duties, and the Slovak's efforts helped to chip away at Devriendt's buffer as the afternoon progressed.

With 50km remaining, the gap was down to 1:40 as the pace lifted steadily in an increasingly nervous peloton. On occasion, splits threatened to develop – most notably when Sunweb led the race onto narrow, exposed roads with 44km to go – but there was still a full complement of riders in the bunch when Devriendt's adventure came to an end 27km from home.

Deceuninck-QuickStep were prominent on the run-in, though world champion Mads Pedersen (Trek-Segafredo) thwarted their attempts to set up Alaphilippe for three bonus seconds at the sprint at Saint-Aout. After his misfortune on stage 2, Alaphilippe is thus some 1:31 off Schachmann's yellow jersey, but he will hope to begin his Paris-Nice anew on home roads in Saint-Amand-Montrond on Wednesday.

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