Sam Bennett (Bora-hansgrohe) took his first WorldTour win on the third stage of Paris-Nice. The Irishman outsprinted Alexander Kristoff (Katusha-Alpecin) and John Degenkolb (Trek-Segafredo) at the line in Chalon-sur-Saône.
For the first time in this year’s edition of Paris – Nice, the riders started in dry conditions. Nevertheless, again it was cold on 3rd stage over 190k to Chalon-Sur-Saône.
From the sharp start a group of 3 riders attacked. After the demanding last days, the peloton decided to take it a little easy and the breakaway’s advantage grew fast to more than 5 minutes.
After the gap increased to almost 8 minutes, the sprinter teams took over control in the peloton after the feeding zone. The distance between break and bunch decreased immediately and at the foot of the first KOM of the day the gap was down to 4:00.
When at the second and last KOM of the day, with 25k to go, the gap was just one minute, it was just a matter of time when the escapees will be brought back from the peloton. At 3k the pack was back together and everything was set for a bunch sprint.
It was a perfectly timed sprint for Sam Bennett which ended with the first ever WorldTour win for the Irish rider and Bora – hansgrohe.
“I chased that first WorldTour win quite a while and I feel big relief now. The boys did an awesome job. First Michael and Juraj brought me up and then with 500m to go Patrick came also from behind with lots of speed. I was able to jump on his wheel and with that momentum I was perfectly placed with 300m to go. I launched my sprint at 200m and I always felt I could win. It is just a great feeling now to have that win under my belt. I suffered a lot last year in the Tour de France after my crash in the first stage, but I did hang on and rode all the way until Paris. To finish that Grand Tour I think brought me to another level”, said Sam Bennett.
Un super sprint de Bennett ! / A great sprint by Bennett to beat all the other sprinters! #ParisNice pic.twitter.com/RRdX5lcFBc
— Paris-Nice (@ParisNice) 7 martie 2017
Paris-Nice 2017 – stage 3 results (Chablis – Chalon-sur-Saône):
| 1 | Sam Bennett (Bora-hansgrohe) | 4:31:14 |
| 2 | Alexander Kristoff (Katusha-Alpecin) | ,, |
| 3 | John Degenkolb (Trek-Segafredo) | ,, |
| 4 | Marcel Kittel (Quick-Step Floors) | ,, |
| 5 | Michael Matthews (Team Sunweb) | ,, |
| 6 | Arnaud Demare (FDJ) | ,, |
| 7 | André Greipel (Lotto Soudal) | ,, |
| 8 | Christophe Laporte (Cofidis) | ,, |
| 9 | Kristian Sbaragli (Dimension Data) | ,, |
| 10 | Magnus Cort (Orica-Scott) | ,, |
General classification after stage 3:
| 1 | Arnaud Demare (FDJ) | 12:14:42 |
| 2 | Julian Alaphilippe (Quick-Step Floors) | +06” |
| 3 | Alexander Kristoff (Katusha-Alpecin) | +13” |
| 4 | Philippe Gilbert (Quick-Step Floors) | +17” |
| 5 | Tony Gallopin (Lotto Soudal) | +19” |
| 6 | Romain Hardy (Fortuneo – Vital Concept) | +21” |
| 7 | Daniel Martin (Quick-Step Floors) | +23” |
| 8 | Sergio Henao (Team Sky) | ,, |
| 9 | Rudy Molard (FDJ) | ,, |
| 10 | Kristijan Koren (Cannondale-Drapac) | +31” |
