Peter Sagan’s great week continued today as he took a superb stage win on day 3 of the Eneco Tour in Ardooie, Belgium. Managing to find the smallest of gaps through the middle of the peloton, Sagan proved the fastest of the bunch on the second sprint showdown of the race.
The stage saw a nail-biting finish with the day’s break of five only being caught as the sprint opened up. Initially it looked like Sagan would be too far back to be able to contest the top placings on the stage, but a show of technical skill and nerve saw the World and European champion find an unimaginable gap and pull clear for a convincing win in the final metres.
With the win, Sagan moves into second on GC, just three seconds down, and comforts his lead in the red jersey of points leader.
“I think God opened the street for me in the finishing sprint like Moses parted the seas,” Sagan joked after the finish, clearly delighted with the stage win. “It was fun and I’m very happy to win here. Thanks again to all my teammates as they did an unbelievable job on the last laps and helped me today. For now, we’re doing very well but we’ll take it day-by-day and see how we are tomorrow and then in the team time trial. Sunday is still some way away but for now we’re doing well and we’ll try to continue like this.”
The race got underway with a break of five riders pulling clear in the opening kilometres, building an advantage that grew to over six minutes. Much like on the first stage, the sprinters’ teams were keen to pick up the chase, along with that of the race leader, and control the gap ahead of a likely bunch finish.
Their advantage fell as the stage progressed but in the final 20km the five picked up the pace and started to hold off the peloton. A concerted chase from behind eventually brought the gap down but it was touch and go until the final few hundred metres as to whether the break or the peloton would take it.
On the final finishing circuits, Tinkoff applied pressure on the front of the peloton to help close the gap and to also keep Sagan in position, and the team once again showed a collective display of strength to help deliver Sagan in the right position to be able to contest the stage win. Unfortunately for Tinkoff, Michael Valgren was involved in a crash in the sprint and will undergo further tests to asses any damage done.
Tomorrow’s stage covers 201.4km over typical Belgium roads, and the race starts to tackle some climbs and other difficulties, as Hoffman explained. “There are a few hills and cobblestones, and the mix of these in the final could lead to some splits so we will be ready and up there.”
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