Another victory in the 2019 Tour de Romandie for Groupama-FDJ today, with David Gaudu winning the third stage over Rui Costa (UAE Team Emirates) and race leader Primoz Roglic (Jumbo-Visma).
Astana’s Davide Villella started the sprint before Gaudu came around him with 400 meters to go and held off Costa, Roglic, Woods and Grosschartner.
“In the end, the guys put in a lot of effort to put me in place. I felt I had strength, and at the bottom of the bump, I put myself in the best position, I managed to get back to the front quickly. I thought G. Thomas was going to put in a big attack, it was actually an intense rush, I attacked 400m from the line, out of the corner and nobody could get me back. I did not believe it too much, I said to myself, that somebody will go back to me and make no, today it smiled on me and I am very very happy.
“We will see about tomorrow’s stage. The announced conditions are very difficult with a finish at the top. After there is a lap of 17km that will not necessarily be favorable but we will see at the end of tomorrow’s stage. The team’s Tour de Romandie has already been successful with Stefan’s victory yesterday and mine today.”
Gaudu moves to 2nd overall in the general classification behind Roglic.
Today’s stage was another good one for Costa, who now sits in third place in the classification, eight seconds back from Roglic.
“I hesitated for a moment and Gaudu took it,” said Costa. “I was in a good position but I didn’t make up my mind because I was waiting for someone to go. Unfortunately my indecision went in favour of the strong Frenchman who did a great sprint. I would have preferred to bring home the success, but at least I can see that my condition is good, and this will be very important in view of the big stage tomorrow.”
Stage 3 Brief Results:
- David Gaudu (Groupama-FDJ) at 3h50’53”
- Rui Costa (UAE Team Emirates) s.t.
- Primoz Roglic (Team Jumbo-Visma) s.t.
General Classification After Stage 3:
- Primoz Roglic (Team Jumbo-Visma) at 12h.23’02”
- David Gaudu (Groupama-FDJ) at 6″
- Rui Costa (UAE Team Emirates) at 8″
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