Former leader Sarreau suffers mechanical and drops out of top 30
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Stefan Küng (Groupama-FDJ) blasts away in time trial to win stage 3b and move into race lead(Image credit: Tommaso Pelagalli/SprintCyclingAgency)
Marc Sarreau of AG2R Citroën Team suffers a mechanical problem during the 18.3km Individual Time Trial stage to Vivonne(Image credit: Dario Belingheri/Getty Images)
Marc Sarreau of AG2R Citroën Team gets a new bike during the stage 3b time trial(Image credit: Dario Belingheri/Getty Images)
Stefan Küng (Groupama-FDJ) dominated the 18.3km individual time trial to win the afternoon stage of the Tour Poitou-Charentes en Nouvelle-Aquitaine and take over the general classification lead.
The time trial silver medalist from this year’s European Championships covered the flat course from Smarves to Vivonne in 25 minutes, one second. Finishing 17 seconds back in second place was Kévin Vauquelin (Arkéa-Samic), and another three seconds back for third was Pierre Latour (TotalEnergies).
Only five other riders completed the course within one minute of Küng, as the Swiss rider put big chunks of time into his GC lead with one day to race. He started the day 22 seconds behind race leader Marc Sarreau (AG2R Citroën), who had swept the opening three road contests of the five-stage event.
Sarreau, who said he was not likely to retain the leader’s jersey across a pair of stages on Thursday, had any hopes dashed when he suffered a mechanical during the time trial and had lost a lot of time with a bike change. He finished 3:21 behind the Swiss winner in 66th place and plummeted to 32nd overall.
"In the time trial, I gave my maximum until halfway through. When I saw that I was losing chunks of time, I relaxed my effort to save myself for tomorrow. Then I had a puncture, so there are no regrets about losing the leader's jersey," Sarreau explained. "Tomorrow, there is still a good chance to play my card.”
The stage race concludes Friday with a 185.1km rolling route from Mansle to Poitiers.
Jackie has been involved in professional sports for more than 30 years in news reporting, sports marketing and public relations. She founded Peloton Sports in 1998, a sports marketing and public relations agency, which managed projects for Tour de Georgia, Larry H. Miller Tour of Utah and USA Cycling. She also founded Bike Alpharetta Inc, a Georgia non-profit to promote safe cycling. She is proud to have worked in professional baseball for six years - from selling advertising to pulling the tarp for several minor league teams. She has climbed l'Alpe d'Huez three times (not fast). Her favorite road and gravel rides are around horse farms in north Georgia (USA) and around lavender fields in Provence (France), and some mtb rides in Park City, Utah (USA).
