Tour de Suisse: Sagan wins stage 3

Peter Sagan (Tinkoff) took his second straight victory at the Tour de Suisse with a commanding sprint in a rain-soaked Rehinfelden. Michael Albasini (Orica-GreenEdge) came a close second with Silvan Dillier (BMC) taking third after the three held off the peloton by a mere three seconds.

It proved a vital three seconds for Sagan, who now sits at the top of the standings with a three-second advantage over Jurgen Roelandts (Lotto-Soudal), who had started the day in the leader’s jersey.

Having helped with the chase for most of the day, Sagan was left with no teammates as the stage reached its conclusion. With Dillier having made it away in the day’s break and a stinging attack from Albasini on the penultimate ascent, Sagan had to take matters into his own hands. The world champion initially took up the chase on the front of a diminishing peloton before launching his move near the top of final ascent of the day.

As Roelandts found himself off the back of the bunch, Michael Matthews (Orica-GreenEdge) set off in chase of Sagan. The Australian didn’t have the legs, and once they were on the descent he didn’t stand a chance. Sagan utilised his famous bike handling skills to make mincemeat of the gap between himself and the pair out front.

Behind, the peloton weren’t relenting and Lotto-Soudal, having brought Roelandts back to the main group, began reeling in the three escapees. The three had a maximum advantage of just over 30 seconds but that was reduced to little more than a handful inside the final 10 kilometres. Feeling the peloton on his back, Sagan decided to try another attack with five kilometres to the line. He distanced his Swiss friends initially but realised quickly that he wasn’t going to shake them too easily.

Sagan was brought back and the three worked together as the peloton became tantalisingly close. Albasini was the first to show his cards inside the final kilometre but when Sagan wound up his own sprint, the Orica man had no answer. Sagan stormed to his second win of the 2016 race and his 13th in the race’s history, jumping to the top of the overall standings as well.

Dillier was another big mover in the overall classification and, after mopping up bonus seconds during the stage and at the finish, he climbed to third overall, equal on time with Roelandts.

How it happened

Cloudy conditions greeted the riders at the start in Grosswangen with Jurgen Roelandts (Lotto-Soudal) in the yellow of race leader after taking three seconds on Fabian Cancellara (Trek-Segafredo) in Sunday’s finale. What lay ahead for the peloton was 192.6km of rolling terrain with six classified climbs before the finish in Rheinfelden.

There were attacks from the off but it took some time before a move finally stuck. Swiss rider Silvan Dillier (BMC) was the first to snap the elastic after 14km. He eventually had some company in the form of Sven Erik Byström (Katusha), Gregory Rast (Trek-Segafredo), Matthew Hayman (Orica-GreenEdge), Branislau Samoilau (CCC Sprandi Polkowice), Bruno Pires (Team Roth), Antwan Tolhoek and Hub Duijn (Roompot Oranje Peloton).

With 20 kilometres ridden, the eight out front had an advantage of 1:30 and that was over five minutes by the time they hit the 50km mark. As the rain began to fall on the riders, the team of the leader, Lotto-Soudal, managed the pace of the peloton with the help of Peter Sagan’s Tinkoff team. After starting the day just 13 seconds down on Roelandts, Dillier went on the hunt for bonus seconds, winning three at the first intermediate sprint.

Orica-GreenEdge had obviously gone into the stage with an aggressive strategy and after trying but failing to make it into the break earlier in the day, Amets Txurruka had another go with less than 50km to go. However, he found himself in no-man’s land for a while before eventually being reeled in by the peloton.

The relentless up and down of the finale fractured the bunch into smaller groups and the leading group weren’t immune to it either. With 20 kilometres to go, there was only four of the initial escape group remaining. Their advantage was slim, however, and the peloton were closing quickly. Sensing the opportunity for a stage win, Albasini had Chris Juul-Jensen bring him to the front of the peloton with 18km remaining. The Swiss rider quickly made the juncture on the penultimate ascent of the day, with the help of Hayman who then fell back to the peloton with his job for the day complete.

The rest of the peloton bided their time, with Sagan picking his moment seven kilometres later near the top of the final ascent. Using his abilities on the downhill, it didn’t take him long to bridge the 30-second gap to Albasini and Dillier. Albasini’s teammate Matthews attempted to go with the world champion but found himself lacking and had to resign himself to being pulled along in the peloton.

With Lotto Soudal back at the helm, it looked like it just might come back together and Sagan’s efforts would come to naught. However, by the skin of their teeth, the trio held them off. Albasini made his move first but Sagan eased around him to take his sixth victory this season.

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