Tour de Suisse 2016: Stage 3

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January 1 - June 19, Grosswangen, Switzerland, Road - WorldTour

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Live coverage of stage 3 of the Tour de Suisse, 192.6km from Grosswangen to Rehinfelden with a rolling finale. 

 

Hello there and welcome to Cyclingnews' live coverage of the Tour de Suisse. It's the third of nine stages today, where a sprint finish is on the cards, though the finale isn't completely straight forward.

Here's the stage profile

75km remaining from 192km

It was Dillier who sparked the move by attacking in the early kilometres. After a couple of riders tried and failed to bridge across, eventually those seven others managed to make it, with this break of the day forming properly after around 20km of racing. 

It was Tolhoek who skipped away towards the top of the Unterer Hauenstein - the first climb of the day - to take maximum KOM points.

And now Tolhoeck does the very same on the second climb of the day, between Sissach and Nussdorf. There are just 5 points on offer this time as it's only a third-category climb but he has extended his lead over Matthias Krizek (Roth) to 11 points. 

Meanwhile the peloton has really made inroads on these climbs. The gap now is down to just above the 3-minute mark. 

The riders are about to pass through the finish line in Rheinfelden for the first time. 

54km remaining from 192km

Sagan, of course, won yesterday's stage and is a hot favourite again today. Up there with Tinkoff are the Lotto Soudal jerseys riding for Jurgen Roelandts, who took the lead in the general classification yesterday. 

A shot here from the race organisers showing some locals catching the race as it rolls through Rheinfelden for the first time. 

The breakaway comes through the intermediate sprint point ahead of these climbs and it's Dillier who takes maximum points. The BMC man didn't really need to try as hard as he did, with none of the others showing the slightest interest. 

Coming up to the top of the first climb of this circuit and Tolhoek once again goes for it. Pires follows but he can't prevent Tolhoek from extending his lead in convincing fashion.

Meanwhile the breakaway group has completely broken up on the climb. 

The other six breakaway riders have now come together and are riding in pursuit of Tolhoek and Pires, who look keen to press on. 

Amets Txurruka (Orica-GreenEdge) attacks from the bunch on the climb and immediately gets a gap

The Basque rider has a good 20 seconds on the peloton as they come off the climb. 

The breakaway comes back together so now we have a group of 8 at the head of the race once again. They are 2 minutes ahead of Txurruka, with the peloton a further 35 seconds behind. 

The break is now on the climb of Schöneberg. Another third-category ascent but with some steep ramps. 

The break is now on the climb of Schöneberg. Another third-category ascent but with some steep ramps. 

Tolhoek sees the 250m to banner on this climb and promptly moves to the front. He stays ahead on the double-digit gradients before making sure on the run to the line. 5 more points in the bag. 

35km remaining from 192km

Txurruka's solo bid looks futile here. He's soon to be caught by the bunch. 

Txurruka is swallowed up as Tinkoff drill it on the front with three riders. 

Rast, Pires, and Samoilau have been dropped from the break.

Dillier leads the break as a steady stream of rainwater pours off his chin. The 5-man breakaway now has a lead of under 2 minutes. 

Tinkoff are really forcing the issue here. One of their riders comes through a bend and everyone else is forced to full-on sprint to regain contact. It's unsurprsingly strung out in the bunch.

27km remaining from 192km

Tinkoff are doing all the work but Lotto Soudal need to chip in, too. Dillier started the day in 9th place and just 13 seconds down on Roelandt's overall lead. The Swiss rider is therefore the virtual leader of the race. 

The weather conditions and Tinkoff's pacemaking has seen a split in the peloton, with two big groups currently separated by a small margin. 

Dillier once again bags the points at the intermediate sprint.

We're hearing that Roompot's Maurits Lammertink has been forced to abandon the race due to a crash. He's being taken to hospital nearby. 

19km remaining from 192km

Tolhoek, surprisingly, is dropped as the road starts to pitch uphill for the second ascent of this third-cat climb. 

Michael Albasini attacks from the bunch. Orica threw Txurruka up the road at this point on the previous circuit but the Swiss rider is certainly a threat on this sort of terrain. 

Hayman drops back over the top of the climb and soon Albasini is up on his wheel. 

15km remaining from 192km

Here we go, onto the climb. 

As expected, Albasini goes on the offensive. Dillier is determined to stay with him. 

Sagan is in the bunch but now has no teammates. 

30 seconds is the gap and it is now incumbent on Sagan to lead the chase. The world champion is on the front of the bunch and Michael Matthews, who has a teammate up the road, is on his wheel. 

11km remaining from 192km

The world champion puts in a searing injection of pace towards the top of the climb and crests it with a small gap. We know all about his descending skills...

What an attack from Sagan - and would we expect anything less? He has already caught Dillier and Albasini. 

10km remaining from 192km

7km remaining from 192km

Sagan exchanges a word with his breakaway companions and comes to the front. He'll want to drag this one to the finish, safe in the knowledge he has the highest finishing speed of the three. 

6km remaining from 192km

Sagan attacks the break!

Albasini reacts and manages to get the wheel but Dillier, who has spent most of the day in the break, is struggling. As Sagan eases, however, he makes it across. 

Etixx-QuickStep have men on the front of the bunch. They'll want to bring this back together for Fernando Gaviria. 

Thomas, van Garderen, Costa all up near the front of the bunch. It looks like Roelandt's group has regained contact. 

3km remaining from 192km

1km remaining from 192km

Flamme rouge and the trio look over their shoulders

This is going to be close. A proper chase is needed in this last km.

Albasini ramps it up

But Sagan gets back up to him with 100m to go and comes round him to take the victory!

What a win from Peter Sagan!

Albasini opened up a small gap with his initial drive but Sagan was able to get back on terms and didn't stop there, coming right round and using his superior speed to finish it off. 

I believe that makes Sagan the new overall leader of the Tour de Suisse. 

13! Sagan simply loves the Tour de Suisse and adds to his record number of stage wins at the race. He gets a big hug from Oleg Tinkov for his troubles. 

Top 10

General classification after stage 3

Sagan steps up onto the podium to pull on the race leader's jersey

Sagan was putting out 1240 watts in that sprint, travelling at 65.7 km/h.

Here's the first shot of the final sprint

Sagan won in a bunch sprint yesterday, and was willing to shake it up today by going on the attack...with the same outcome. He is a wonderfully versatile talent. 

Here's our stage report, with some photos and results

Tomorrow is flatter with just one late short third-category climb, so should be easier to control, with a bunch sprint likely. In this form, who'd bet against Sagan making it a hattrick?

We'll be back tomorrow with live coverage of stage 4, while you'll be able to read reaction from today on Cyclingnews very soon. Thanks for joining us today, and see you again tomorrow. 

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