Tour de Suisse: Sonny Colbrelli wins rain-soaked stage three

Sonny Colbrelli (Bahrain-Merida) out-sprinted Fernando Gaviria (Quick-Step Floors) and Peter Sagan (Bora-hansgrohe) to win the third stage of the Tour de Suisse.

Stefan Kung, the yellow jersey wearer, finished in the main pack to maintain his overall lead, claimed after the team time-trial, as the race now turns into the high mountains.

Colbrelli launched his sprint early and got a good 10 bike lengths ahead before Sagan and Gaviria went after him. The three crossed the line all leaning in on each other with the fast-moving Sagan in the middle unable to muscle through.

The 182km run over rolling terrain featured a high tempo largely thanks to a three-man breakaway eventually reeled in largely by the efforts of Sagan’s team.

There were around 60 riders still in the pack as the pace accelerated into the final kilometres shortly after the escapees were reeled in.

Tuesday’s stage takes the peloton into the Alps where the real climb stages begin from Wednesday.

“It’s a beautiful victory today,” the Italian said. “I beat riders like Sagan and Gaviria by anticipating them in the sprint. Yesterday was not a great day for me, and I wanted to bounce back. I was able to do that thanks to the help of my team. I went from a long way out in the sprint, a long, long way out. That worked well for me in Paris-Nice last year and it’s worked again here.”

Tour de Suisse 2018 – stage 3 results (Oberstammheim – Gansingen):

General classification after stage 3: