Tour de Suisse 2019: Stage 3

Hello and welcome to our live coverage of stage 3 of the Tour de Suisse.

Race hub
Stage 2: Luis Leon Sanchez wins with late attack
Tour de Suisse: Geraint Thomas moves into top 10 after stage 2
Peter Sagan just misses out on Tour de Suisse race lead

We're around 20 minutes from the start of stage 3, a largely flat stage which should be one for the sprinters after they missed out yesterday.

Luis Leon Sanchez won yesterday's stage with a canny attack 11km from the line, which caught out the reforming and reorganising peloton out. Read the full report and results from stage 2 here.

The end of yesterday's stage saw the likes of Peter Sagan, Greg Van Avermaet and Michael Matthews chasing on after the final two climbs. Sanchez took advantage and leapt away before the sprinter's teams could organise, but today should be a different story, with only two third-category climbs on the stage.

The riders are rolling out in the neutralised zone now.

Peter Sagan missed out on taking the race lead by fractions of a second yesterday, with Kasper Asgreen (Deceuninck-QuickStep) grabbing three bonus seconds on the stage to elevate him above the Slovakian. The Bora-Hansgrohe sprinter will have another chance later today though. Read our story on Sagan here.

Danny van Poppel (Jumbo-Visma) abandoned yesterday, while Bruno Armirail (Groupama-FDJ) is a non-starter today.

156km remaining from 162km

The break of the day has already been established without much fuss.

The riders out front are Willie Smit (Katusha-Alpecin), Bert-Jan Lindeman (Jumbo-Visma) and Ryan Anderson (Rally UHC). They're two minutes up on the peloton.

Deceuninck-QuickStep are riding at the head of the peloton.

Simon Pellaud (Switzerland) is also in the break.

The Swiss National Team had a good day yesterday, with Claudio Imhof getting into the break and going it alone and leading solo over three of the day's six climbs. He's in the mountains jersey today.

144km remaining from 162km

The break are around 10km from the first climb of the day.

2:10 for the break. The peloton aren't letting them get a big gap yet.

Team Ineos leader Geraint Thomas moved up into the top ten on GC after yesterday's stage. "After yesterday, this was just what I needed - a long, attritional stage. We’ve got three days before we hit the mountains, which will be the GC days, so hopefully we’ll be all good for that," he said.Read the story here.

The breakaway riders have four career wins between them, with only Anderson searching for his first. Roosen has two to his name.

129km remaining from 162km

The break are now 4:15 up on the peloton after 33km of racing.

The break has crested the first climb of the day, the third-category hill at Berg. Results to come.

Pellaud was the first over the top of the climb. It's all rolling roads from here, with 80km until the next classified climb.

117km remaining from 162km

The gap is down a little now. The break are 3:£0 up on the peloton.

Pellaud, 26, used to ride for IAM Cycling before the team folded at the end of 2016. He's with Continental team IAM Excelsior now, but riding here for the Swiss national team.

Earlier this season he won the mountain classification at the Tour de Romandie, and has a handful of wins at .2 level. Last week, it was announced that he's moving to Androni Giocattoli next season.

105km remaining from 162km

Just over 100km to race and the situation remains largely the same. There's not going to be a lot of action during the mid-section of today's stage.

Our latest tech piece is up – the five best power meters in 2019. There's PowerTap, Stages, Quarq and more. Read the article here.

Deceuninck-QuickStep are still working at the front of the peloton, on behalf of race leader Kasper Asgreen.

Yves Lampaert has been working on the front of the peloton, and has averaged 265 watts so far today. Figures via Velon.

90km remaining from 162km

The gap is reportedly down to 2:20 now.

The breakaway are still working together as they approach the halfway mark.

81km remaining from 162km

We reach the midpoint of the stage. The break are still 2:20 up the road on the QuickStep-led peloton.

20km until the second climb of the day. It's 0.9km long at 11.3%.

Here's the latest story from the race. It's Ineos leader Geraint Thomas talking about Chris Froome and how his teammate's crash is a big setback for the team.

57km remaining from 162km

The gap is back up to three minutes now. A mixture of teams, including QuickStep, Bora and FDJ, lead the peloton.

The break hit the climb. The road is cobbled, but nothing like roads in the spring classics. Pellaud leads the way.

Pellaud leads Smit and Lindeman over the top.

50km to go now. The break have three minutes.

The peloton is upping the pace somewhat now. Bora and QuickStep lead.

40km remaining from 162km

2:15 for the break now.

The peloton is strung out as they speed along. They're slowly making inroads into the break's lead.

With 30km to race the gap is down to 1:30.

The pace is ramping up in the peloton now. They'll pass through the finish soon, then race a lap of Lake Murten before the finish.

25km remaining from 162km

A mini-sprint in the break as Lindeman leads Smit over the finish line for the first time. 

22km remaining from 162km

The gap is down to 1:15 now.

Dan McLay (EF Education First) has reportedly abandoned the race.

18km remaining from 162km

QuickStep and Bora still lead. The gap is down to 45 seconds now.

Peter Sagan was towards the rear of the peloton just then. Unclear if there was some problem or not but he's moving back up now.

Now just 30 seconds for the break with 15km to race.

14km remaining from 162km

Lindeman leads Smit and Pellaud over the intermediate sprint.

Sagan changed his bike at 18km to go. He's fine back in the peloton now though.

12km remaining from 162km

Just 15 seconds for the break now.

10km remaining from 162km

10km to go now and a slim advantage for the break.

Pellaud goes on the attack.

8km remaining from 162km

Lindeman is back in the peloton now. Smit too.

Anderson has been caught too. Just Pellaud out front now.

6km remaining from 162km

Pellaud has 10 seconds on the peloton. It's almost over for him.

And Pellaud is caught.

A mixture of teams at the head of the peloton – Bora, Total, Mitchelton, QuickStep, Lotto, Trek...

CCC and Sunweb also have a few riders up there.

Sagan, Van Avermaet, Matthews, Viviani, Kristoff, Degenkolb, Trentin, van Poppel, Boudat – there are plenty of names here to compete in the sprint in four kilometres.

Ineos move up on the right-hand side.

3km remaining from 162km

3km to go, so the GC men can relax.

CCC and Sunweb combine at the front.

2km remaining from 162km

Into the final 2km and Asgreen hits the front with Morkov on his wheel.

Sagan fights for Viviani's wheel.

1km remaining from 162km

We're into the final kilometre now. Bora and Mitchelton take over from Asgreen.

Richeze leads Morkov. Viviani on the Dane's wheel.

Degenkolb leads into the left-hander with 300 metres to go.

Sagan launches out of Degenkolb's wheel with 150 metres to go!

And it's easy for Sagan. He takes the win.

Sagan came up around the outside of Degenkolb and nobody got close to him. Win number 17 at the Tour de Suisse.

Sagan jumped from Stuyven's wheel, whlie Degenkolb was behind him. 

Viviani took a distant second place ahead of Degenkolb.

Sagan muscled Degenkolb off Stuyven's wheel. Stuyven kept pushing around the final corner, while Degenkolb lost momentum. Sagan was already a bike-length ahead before even starting his sprint.

Stage result

1 Peter Sagan (Svk) Bora-Hansgrohe 3:39:25
2 Elia Viviani (Ita) Deceuninck-QuickStep
3 John Degenkolb (Ger) Trek-Segafredo
4 Ivan Garcia (Spa) Bahrain-Merida
5 Ben Swift (GBr) Team Ineos
6 Michael Matthews (Aus) Team Sunweb
7 Reinardt Janse Van Rensburg (RSA) Dimension Data
8 Fabian Lienhard (Swi) Switzerland
9 Thomas Boudat (Fra) Total Direct Energie
10 Daniel Hoelgaard (Nor) Groupama-FDJ

General classification after stage 3

1 Peter Sagan (Svk) Bora-Hansgrohe 7:51:31
2 Kasper Asgreen (Den) Deceuninck-QuickStep 0:00:10
3 Rohan Dennis (Aus) Bahrain-Merida 0:00:11
4 Michael Matthews (Aus) Team Sunweb
5 Lawson Craddock (USA) EF Education First 0:00:16
6 Stefan Küng (Swi) Groupama-FDJ 0:00:20
7 Matteo Trentin (Ita) Mitchelton-Scott 0:00:27
8 Geraint Thomas (GBr) Team Ineos 0:00:28
9 Luis León Sanchez (Spa) Astana Pro Team 0:00:29
10 Winner Anacona (Col) Movistar Team

So the stage win and leader's jersey for Sagan.

Tomorrow's stage is tougher but there's a good shot that a sprinter as strong as him should last through to the finish. He, Matthews and Van Avermaet got back on after a tougher climb in the finish on stage 2, after all.

Sagan is in the points jersey too, while Asgreen retains the young rider's jersey, and Claudio Imhof is still in the KOM jersey.

Here's a look at tomorrow's stage.

That's all for our live coverage of stage 3. Stay tuned here for a full report and results.