Peter Sagan managed to work himself into a great position in the final kilometre and launched an early sprint. He faced tough opposition but proved to be the strongest. Bryan Coquard (Cofidis) finished second and Alexander Kristoff (Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert Matériaux) third. Kristoff immediately congratulated Sagan on the victory, the Slovak’s first for his new team TotalEnergies.
“It’s hard to get back in a racing mood after my sickness and three months without racing, I just needed some time. It’s just a stage win. I’m happy for that and happy for the team. They all did a great job pulling with another team all day. In the end, I just made it.”
It might be “just a stage win” in the overall look at Sagan’s career. However, it’s been quite some time since he was at his best. He tested positive for Covid-19 earlier this year and missed a bunch of races. Is this a sign of him truly coming back?
Asked if it was nice to return to winning, Sagan seemed to agree: “Well, it’s nice to be back.”
Stephen Williams (Bahrain-Victorious) still remains in the overall lead of the Tour de Suisse with six seconds on Andreas Kron (Lotto Soudal).
Tour de Suisse – stage three results
- Peter Sagan (TotalEnergies) – 4:28:38
- Bryan Coquard (Cofidis)
- Alexander Kristoff (Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert Matériaux)
- Tom Pidcock (Ineos Grenadiers)
- Alex Aranburu (Movistar)
- Matteo Trentin (UAE Team Emirates)
- Cees Bol (Team DSM)
- Michael Matthews (BikeExchange-Jayco)
- Mike Teunissen (Jumbo-Visma)
- Alberto Bettiol (EF Education-EasyPost)
Tour de Suisse – general classification
- Stephen Williams (Bahrain Victorious) – 13:32:19
- Andreas Kron (Lotto Soudal) + 6 seconds
- Andreas Leknessund (Team DSM) + 7 seconds
- Geraint Thomas (Ineos Grenadiers)
- Stefan Küng (Groupama FDJ) + 10 seconds
- Sepp Kuss (Jumbo Visma) + 10 seconds
- Marc Hirschi (UAE Team Emirates) + 10 seconds
- Aleksandr Vlasov (Bora-Hansgrohe) + 10 seconds
- Jakob Fuglsang (Israel-Premier Tech) + 10 seconds
- Adam Yates (Ineos Grenadiers) + 10 seconds
