Tirreno-Adriatico: Sagan wins stage 3

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Peter Sagan (Bora-Hansgrohe) outkicked Elia Viviani (Team Sky) to take the stage 3 win at Tirreno Adriatico in a sprint finish on Friday. Jurgen Roelandts (Lotto Soudal) battled through to take the final podium spot.

Race leader, Greg Van Avermaet was caught behind a crash near the finish and, although he did not lose time, finished behind teammate Rohan Dennis, who is now the race leader tied on time with Van Avermaet and several of his teammates.

In the bunch sprint, the world champion waited patiently on Viviani’s wheel as the Italian took over the front from his lead-out man before the final corner. Sagan then swung wide on the right and with a powerful turn of speed blew past Viviani to win comfortably in Montalto di Castro. Viviani held on for second, with Roelandts a few metres behind in third.

"You never know what’s going to happen, and today was a bit windy," Sagan said of the stage with a tricky, slightly uphill finish. "Everybody was afraid about the wind in the last 50k, but in the end nothing happened and maybe a lot of riders came to the finish without legs. The last couple of kilometres there were cross winds."

The win is Sagan’s second of the young season after the Slovakian won Kuurne-Brussel-Kuurne and shows he is recovered from the illness that hampered him in Strade-Bianche.

"I hope so," Sagan responded when asked if he was fully recovered. "The season just started now and I hope that it’s not the last victory. I have to thank all my teammates, because they did a great job today and Bora-Hansgrohe is the best team."

How it unfolded

Friday’s third stage took the peloton 204km from Monterotondo Marittimo to Montalto di Castro, a route that featured one classified climb in Scansano before the day was half done.

A group of five riders that included Mattia Frapporti (Androni-Sidermec), Andry Grivko (Astana), Mirco Maestri, Luca Wackermann (Bardiani – CSF), Iuri Filosi and Kohei Uchima (Nippo-Fantini) and Alexis Gougeard (Ag2r La Mondiale) sneaked away in the early kilometres and had a gap of 2:30 12km into the day.

BMC took control of the chase for leader Greg Van Avermaet, and let the gap go up to 3:49 by 50km. By the time the leaders hit the top of the Scansano climb the gap was holding at 3:15. Driven on by the intermediate sprint points, Bardiani pushed the breakaway and Maestri duly mopped up the 10 points available. Once through those, however, the impetus was gone and the advantage began to disappear. BMC, aided by Dimension Data and Quick-Step, among others, continued to press the pace, and with 60km to go they had just over a minute on the charging bunch.

The gap continued to come down, and as the catch became inevitable with less than 25km to go, Filosi jumped free to try and extend his TV time out front. A short descent brought his effort to an end, and the bunch was together bearing down on a sprint finish.

Quick-Step’s Tom Boonen led the bunch into the final 10km, where the pace was prohibitive for any further attacks. BMC’s hopes for stage glory and keeping Van Avermaet out of trouble suffered a blow when Daniel Oss punctured and required a wheel change.

Team Sky then entered the mix for Viviani, driving up the pace and causing splits in the bunch as the peloton continued to get strung out.

As the finish line neared, UAE Emirates’ Sacha Modolo tried to go long, but the slight rise at the finish and the slight crosswinds doomed his efforts. Viviani got on terms with his fellow Italian first, before Sagan made his move and sealed the win.

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