Tour de Suisse: Peter Sagan wins stage 3

Peter Sagan (Bora-Hansgrohe) claimed his 17th career victory at the Tour de Suisse with a dominant sprint on the cobbled uphill finish in Murten on stage 3 on Monday, taking the overall lead in the process.

The three-time world champion kicked hard with just over 100 metres to go on the cobbled incline and comfortably got the better of Elia Viviani (Deceuninck-QuickStep) and John Degenkolb (Trek-Segafredo).

Having started the day second overall, tied on time with leader Kasper Asgreen (Deceuninck-QuickStep), Sagan moves into the yellow jersey thanks to the 10 bonus seconds he collected for the stage win.

After finishing second on stage 2, leading home the bunch behind solo winner Luis Leon Sanchez (Astana), Sagan seemed determined to add to his impressive tally at the Swiss WorldTour race. While it was Viviani's and Degenkolb's teams who control of the peloton in the closing kilometres, it was he who asserted himself most forcefully and effectively. First of all he fought for the wheel of Viviani, who had Max Richeze and Michael Morkov leading in front of him in the last 2km, then he bullied Degenkolb off the wheel of his lead-out man Jasper Stuyven, who'd hit the front in the final kilometre.

With positioning vital ahead of the left-hand corner that led into the final incline with 200 metres to go, that was the key moment. Sagan went through the bend and onto the cobbles in second wheel and, with a small gap having opened between he and Degenkolb, wasted no time in opening the taps. Using a smooth strip of road that ran through the cobbles, he surged clear, the incline suiting him perfectly, and won convincingly.

"I'm happy with this stage win, my 17th at the Tour de Suisse, and the leader's yellow jersey," Sagan said. "I'd like to thank the whole team for their brilliant work, they controlled the race and placed me in a perfect spot for the victory. It was a very fast finale and quite hectic because everybody wanted to be in the front. When we crossed the finish line for the first time, it was clear to me that in order to have a chance at winning, I had to be in the first positions of the group before the last left turn. That's what we did and I was able to attack in the final stretch to get the victory."

Sagan now leads the overall classification by 10 seconds over Asgreen, with stage 1 winner Rohan Dennis (Bahrain-Merida) third at 11 seconds.

How it unfolded

The peloton faced an undulating 163km from Flamatt to Murten, with just two short categorised climbs. They would cross the finish line – and preview the run-in – for the first time with 26km to go, ahead of a finishing circuit around Lake Murten.

The day's breakaway established itself early on without much fuss and contained Willie Smit (Katusha-Alpecin), Bert-Jan Lindeman (Jumbo-Visma), Ryan Anderson (Rally UHC), and Simon Pellaud (Switzerland). They opened up a lead of 4:15 by the top of the first climb at Berg after 30km, where Pellaud was first to the top. They remained on a relatively short leash and had three minutes in hand when they crested the Chemin de Lorette in Fribourg with just over 5km to go, Pellaud once again taking maximum mountains points.

Bora-Hansgrohe and Deceuninck-QuickStep then set about steadily bringing the gap down, and when they crossed the line for the first time, it was down to 1:30. The pace then kicked up another notch in the peloton and they were upon the escapees just inside 10km to go. Pellaud refused to roll over and launched an attack but he too was brought back after 3km and the peloton was all together heading into the final 6km.

The pace was high as teams sought to organise themselves and position their leaders. QuickStep seemed to take control in the closing kilometres, with Richeze leading the way ahead of Morkov and Viviani. However, Stuyven punched his way to the front with just over 500 metres to go. He must have assumed Degenkolb was still on his wheel but, after some argy-bargy, it was Sagan who had stolen the armchair ride. Stuyven led through the crucial left-hander with 200m to go, and he and Sagan carried more speed through it than Degenkolb, with a gap opening to him and the rest. Sagan looked around and, sensing his opportunity, pounced. Viviani came back to outgun Degenkolb, but with Sagan adding a powerful acceleration to his perfect handling of the run-in, it was for a distant second place.

The victory is Sagan's 17th at the Tour de Suisse, but only his third of the 2019 season. He now carries the yellow jersey into stage 3, a hillier stage that could suit a breakaway or end in a reduced group sprint.

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