Paris-Nice: Mads Pedersen takes sprint win on stage 3 as Laporte crashes

Mads Pedersen (Trek Segafredo) took a hugely impressive win on stage 3 of Paris-Nice after a powerful sprint to the line. The finale also saw race-leader Christophe Laporte (Jumbo-Visma) hit the deck after a tangle of wheels.

Bryan Coquard (Cofidis) finished second with Wout van Aert (Jumbo-Visma) taking third after he was left powerless behind Pedersen in the uphill sprint to the line. The Dane was given the perfect leadout from his teammate Jasper Stuyven, with the Belgian hitting the front with around 500m to go.

Pedersen waited until the last 300m before launching his sprint for the line and when van Aert struggled to match the 2019 world champion it was left to Coquard to mount a last-minute acceleration.

The Frenchman looked as though he was closing after Pedersen’s long-range effort but there would be no denying the Trek-Segafredo rider’s victory. The 26-year-old has won twice now this season as he builds his form ahead of the bulk of the spring classics.

“We really looked into the finish yesterday,” Pedersen said after his win.

“We missed out yesterday with a bit of bad luck and me having a puncture. We wanted to make up for it today, and man the boys did a fantastic job the whole day by making it as easy as possible for me. It was a perfect leadout and then we had the sprint in the end. It was a pretty good day.”

“This is my first WorldTour win in a long time and it’s really nice to start out well. It shows a good direction for the classics, which are coming up in the next few weeks.”

Despite his late crash, Laporte finished the stage and the Frenchman remains one second clear of van Aert in the GC. Primož Roglič is third at nine seconds.

The stage had been a break of three establish a lead of five minutes with, Owain Doull (EF Education-EasyPost), Thomas De Gendt (Lotto Soudal), and Alexis Gougeard (B&B Hotels-KTM) going clear. The lumpy terrain, coupled with a headwind in the second half of the race saw the gap reduced to just over three minutes with 63km to go.

By the time the leading trio had made it to the Côte d’Eguzon the gap had been reduced even more as Team DSM, Jumbo-Visma, and Bahrain Victorious set the pace. After yesterday’s brutally tough conditions a number of riders were obviously struggling and several high profile sprinters, such as stage 1 winner Fabio Jakobsen, Sam Bennett, and Dylan Groenewegen were among the early casualties.

Brandon McNulty, another victim of the crosswinds on stage 2, was also distanced. The American finished over 11 minutes down, with his GC bid effectively over. Solace could come in the individual time trial on stage 4.

At the front of the race, Søren Kragh Andersen launched two failed attacks on either side of the break being caught, before a number of teams fought for control coming into the final 2km. Trek Segafredo had the firepower in the closing stages with Alex Kirsch and then Stuyven setting up Pedersen for the win.