Cycling
Sagan on song in Swiss tour
2012-06-11 19:38
Aarberg, Switzerland - Slovakian Peter Sagan continued his impressive run of form by sprinting to victory in the third stage of the Tour of Switzerland.
Sagan, who rides for Liquigas, won the opening stage time trial on Sunday ahead of Swiss specialist Fabian Cancellara (RadioShack) to take the leader's jersey.
Despite handing the lead over to Portugal's Rui Costa on Monday, the versatile Slovakian moved back into the limelight after leaving a bunch of top notch sprinters in his wake at the end of the 194.7km ride from Martigny-Ville.
Australian Baden Cooke, of Orica-GreenEdge, was a close second with Briton Ben Swift (Sky) third. American Tyler Farrar (Garmin) finished eighth with Spanish fast man Jose Joaquin Rojas (Movistar) in 10th.
Sagan, who won five stages at the Tour of California last month and has had a handful of top five finishes in major one-day classics this season, now has four stage wins from the race in two years.
In the general classification, meanwhile, there were few changes with Movistar rider Rui Costa still leading Luxembourg's Frank Schleck by 8s overall.
Results from the third stage of the Tour of Switzerland, a 194.7km ride from Martigny-Ville to Aarberg:
Stage
1. Peter Sagan (SVK/LIQ) 4hr 35min 32sec, 2. Baden Cooke (AUS/GEC) same time, 3. Ben Swift (ENG/SKY) s.t., 4. Jacopo Guarnieri (ITA/AST) at 2sec, 5. Allan Davis (AUS/GEC) s.t., 6. Yauheni Hutarovich (BLR/FDJ) s.t., 7. Lloyd Mondory (FRA/ALM) s.t., 8. Tyler Farrar (USA/GRM) s.t., 9. Daniele Colli (ITA/TT1) s.t., 10. Jose Joaquin Rojas (ESP/MOV) s.t.
General classification
1. Rui Costa (POR/MOV) 11hr 06min 57sec, 2. Frank Schleck (LUX/RSH) at 8sec, 3. Roman Kreuziger (CZE/AST) 15, 4. Thibaut Pinot (FRA/FDJ) 19, 5. Nicolas Roche (IRL/ALM) 21, 6. Thomas Lovkvist (SWE/SKY) s.t., 7. Alejandro Valverde (ESP/MOV) 23, 8. John Gadret (FRA/ALM) 24, 9. Mikel Nieve (ESP/EUS) 26, 10. Tom Danielson (USA/GRM) 29