Irish Sam Bennett was the man, as the belgian klassikerhold Deceuninck-Quick-Step in advance had been designated as the winner of the windblown 3. stage of Paris-Nice on Tuesday, but on the last metres, he was cast in the asphalt, and may in the long distance view Iván García Cortina (Bahrain-McLaren) running to victory.
The 24-year-old spaniard took thus his biggest triumph so far as emphasising the impressive form he has shown in the course up until now. German Maximilian Schachmann (Bora-Hansgrohe) defended his yellow jersey.
Final at the 212,5 kilometres long stage was dramatically with the crash and push of the wind, which was the biggest challenge on the purely terrænmæssigt quite affordable stage.
Seven kilometers from the goal came a crash in the highly inflated rate. A rider from Israel Startup Nation seemed to come ‘up to ride on Michael Mørkøvs wheels and smoke then in the asphalt.
Among them, he tore down, was the French sprinter Bryan Coquard (BB Hotel), which had just reached up to the field after a defect.
Ahead put Deceuninck-Quick-Step pace. Soon replaced in front of Sunweb in the fierce wind, but again on the last mile pushed back by the belgian superkollektiv with Michael Mørkøv and Kasper Asgreen in prominent roles.
the Objective of running fast Sam Bennett to the victory seemed already to be a failure, as Bennett smoke down in a crash on the last kilometer.
Bennett was squeezed into the barrier by Hugo Hofstetter (Israel Startup Nation) and had agonized cross the finish line at a leisurely pace accompanied by its depleted hjælperyttere, which had worn out in vain the whole day.
instead, it was the spaniard Iván García Cortina (Bahrain-McLaren) the surprising winner in front of the clearly formstærke Peter Sagan (Bora-Hansgrohe).
The three fold world champion had certainly, with the special satisfaction gained on Tuesday, as he, on that very day ten years ago won his first professional victory, which was also 3. stage of Paris-Nice.
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