Peter Sagan (Bora-hansgrohe) won a gripping but messy sprint to take stage 3 of the BinckBank Tour after Jean-Pierre Drucker (BMC) was caught inside the final 200 metres.
The World Champion delivered a powerful sprint to push his bike past the line just ahead of Edward Theuns (Trek-Segafredo) and Rudy Barbier (AG2R).
Stefan Kung (BMC) remained at the top of the overall standings, while Sagan moves up to 3rd in the GC, and will wear the blue jersey of points leader on tomorrow’s stage.
“It wasn’t easy today. It was a reminder that we’re racing in Belgium because today was like riding a Spring Classic”, said Sagan. “It was crazy – all day on the front, the team trains were up there trying to pass each other and control the pace. In the end, it started to rain, and it was very dangerous, with a crash in the finale.”
“We’ll see whether I can take my 100th victory soon – first we have to survive until tomorrow. It’s good to be back near the top of the GC as well. If I take the GC again, it will be on a day where there are a lot of groups and gaps on the road – it’s all about taking the seconds. For that reason, we will have to take it day by day.”
https://youtu.be/xgQUl2kCg5s
BinckBank Tour 2017 – stage 3 results (Blankenberge – Ardooie):
| 1 | Peter Sagan (Bora-hansgrohe) | 4:14:01 |
| 2 | Edward Theuns (Trek-Segafredo) | ,, |
| 3 | Rudy Barbier (AG2R) | ,, |
| 4 | Dylan Groenewegen (LottoNl-Jumbo) | ,, |
| 5 | Loïc Vliegen (BMC) | ,, |
| 6 | Magnus Cort (Orica-Scott) | ,, |
| 7 | Jonas Rickaert (Sport Vlaanderen – Baloise) | ,, |
| 8 | Simone Consonni (UAE Team Emirates) | ,, |
| 9 | Bert Van Lerberghe (Sport Vlaanderen – Baloise) | ,, |
| 10 | Phil Bauhaus (Team Sunweb) | ,, |
General classification after stage 3:
| 1 | Stefan Küng (BMC) | 8:15:08 |
| 2 | Maciej Bodnar (Bora-hansgrohe) | +04” |
| 3 | Peter Sagan (Bora-hansgrohe) | +05” |
| 4 | Søren Kragh Andersen (Team Sunweb) | +08” |
| 5 | Lars Boom (LottoNl-Jumbo) | +10” |
| 6 | Yves Lampaert (Quick-Step Floors) | +14” |
| 7 | Tom Dumoulin (Team Sunweb) | +16” |
| 8 | Tim Wellens (Lotto Soudal) | +17” |
| 9 | Alexis Gougeard (AG2R) | +22” |
| 10 | Jasha Sütterlin (Movistar) | +24” |
