After two demanding stages, Tuesday’s Stage 3 of the 2019 Criterium du Dauphine was one for the sprinters. 177 km from Le Puy-en-Velay to Riom with only four category four climbs awaited the peloton.
Right after the flag dropped, two riders launched an attack and were gone for most of the stage. The leading duo enjoyed a gap of more than three minutes, while Giro d’ Italia stage winner Cesare Benedetti pulled at the front of the peloton. The gap came down to nearly one minute with 46 km remaining, and with BORA – hansgrohe controlling the pace the advantage dropped steadily.
16 km before the finish the peloton closed the gap and everything was set for the expected bunch sprint. As the race headed into the final kilometres, the sprinter teams started their lead-out. The BORA- hansgrohe train led their sprinter Sam Bennett perfectly, especially Shane Archbold, who did a stellar job to open the sprint with 500 m to go and launch his captain perfectly to the line.
After a masterful sprint Bennett celebrated his seventh season win in Riom on stage 3 of the Critérium du Dauphiné.
“I am super happy to take the win today. It’s certainly not just my victory, the team rode absolutely amazing today and the support I got is what made that win look so easy! Therefore, a huge thanks to the whole team for the effort. Let’s hope the legs are still good for stage 5 in two days.” – Sam Bennett
“We wanted to take control of the race right from the beginning. That only two riders went up the road was an advantage for us. When they had three minutes, Cesare started to pull and other teams joined to help us close the gap, therefore it was clear that it would come down to a sprint. The rain and cold temperatures made the race hard. In the finale we waited quite long with our lead-out. The whole team worked great and Shane did an amazing lead-out. Sam was the strongest and deserved the victory. Congrats to the whole team.” -Enrico Poitschke, Sports Director
Stage 3 Brief Results:
- Sam Bennett (Bora-Hansgrohe) at 4h15’25”
- Wout Van Aert (Team Jumbo-Visma) s.t.
- Davide Ballerini (Astana Pro Team) s.t.
- Clement Venturini (AG2R La Mondiale) s.t.
- Edward Theuns (Trek-Segafredo) s.t.
General Classification After Stage 3:
- Dylan Teuns (Bahrain-Merida) at 11h52’28”
- Guillaume Martin (Wanty-Gobert) at 3″
- Alexey Lutsenko (Astana Pro Team) at 20″
- Jakob Fuglsang (Astana Pro Team) s.t.
- Nairo Quintana (Movistar Team) at 24″
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