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Paris-Nice Stage 3: Peter Sagan takes stage, while Jens Voigt grabs race lead

Young Slovak talent crosses first in stage truncated by snow at start

Peter Sagan of Liquigas, a former World Junior Mountain Bike Champion, confirmed his growing stature as an exciting young talent on the road by taking victory in Stage 3 at Aurillac in Paris-Nice today.

The 20-year-old Slovak rider’s win puts him second in the general classification, six seconds behind the Team Saxo Bank rider Jens Voigt, whose fourth place finish today was enough for him to wrest the race leader’s yellow jersey from Rabobank’s Lars Boom, whom he had finished second to in Sunday’s Prologue.

Britain’s David Millar of Garmin-Transitions lies fourth in the general classification, behind defending champion Luis-Leon Sanchez of Caisse d’Epargne in third, and tomorrow’s testing stage from Maurs to Mende is likely to prompt a further shake-up in the standings.

Voigt’s leadership of the race confirms the popular rider’s recovery from the horrific crash on the descent of the Petit Col du St-Bernard that left him in hospital with concussion and a fractured cheekbone during Stage 16 of last year’s Tour de France.

Sagan and Voigt were among five riders – Joaquim Rodriquez of Katusha, Tony Martin of HTC Columbia and none other than Astana’s Alberto Contador were the others – who followed AG2R’s Nicolas Roche as the Irish champion attacked on the days final climb, the group managing to keep just ahead of the pursuing pack on the 3-kilometre descent to the line. Roche, despite instigating the attack, came a disappointing third.

Billed as The Race to the Sun, Paris-Nice failed to live up to that name today as the departure from Saint Junien was thrown into chaos by snow, which meant that race organisers shortened the route, with the riders instead starting at the 53 kilometre point, reducing the stage to 153 kilometres.

Simon joined road.cc as news editor in 2009 and is now the site’s community editor, acting as a link between the team producing the content and our readers. A law and languages graduate, published translator and former retail analyst, he has reported on issues as diverse as cycling-related court cases, anti-doping investigations, the latest developments in the bike industry and the sport’s biggest races. Now back in London full-time after 15 years living in Oxford and Cambridge, he loves cycling along the Thames but misses having his former riding buddy, Elodie the miniature schnauzer, in the basket in front of him.

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cat1commuter | 14 years ago
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Go Jens! He's one of my favourite riders. Would be great if he could win it, but there are 33 riders inside 1 minute and some big climbs coming up.

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