Turgis wins stage 3 of Tour de Luxembourg

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Anthony Turgis (Cofidis) claimed victory on stage 3 of the Skoda Tour de Luxembourg, beating his breakaway companions in a sprint to the line. Orica-GreenEdge’s Christopher Juul-Jensen was a close second with Mathias Frank (IAM Cycling) a more distant third place. Turgis’ teammate Luis Angel Mate also made it into the stage-winning break and finished fourth.

Maurits Lammertink (Roompot-Oranje Peloton), who went into the stage with a nine-second lead over Philippe Gilbert (BMC), maintained his position at the top of the overall classification.

The third, queen, stage of the Tour de Luxembourg brought the riders 177km from Eschweiler to Differdange. It was an up-and-down day from the off and it culminated with three laps of a local circuit that included an ascent of the Col de l’Europe.

Perhaps feeling rested from the later start, the peloton set off at a quick pace and with more than 30 kilometres ridden there was still no break. With more than a quarter of the stage complete, a five-man break did finally escape up the road. The move included Tosh Van der Sande (Lotto-Soudal), Loic Vliegen (BMC), Luke Durbridge (Orica-GreenEdge), Brice Feillu (Fortuneo-Vital Concept) and Mathias Brandle (IAM Cycling).

The organisers had originally planned for the route to go over the Bourscheid, a punchy climb that averaged over nine per cent. Landslides in the area, however, forced them to make a late change and they sent the riders over the Goebelsmuehle.

The break built up a maximum gap of almost four minutes but it was brought down to just 1:30 by the time they hit the finishing circuits. Heavy rain began to batter the riders and it wouldn’t be long before they were reeled in entirely. A new four-man group soon jumped clear, and Turgis and his fellow escapees were never given much room to manoeuvre but it proved to be just enough to hold off the peloton and allow the four riders to fight between themselves for the stage win.

The Tour de Luxembourg will conclude on Sunday with the longest stage of the race from Mersch to the country’s capital, Luxembourg city.

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