Sky's Thomas takes Alps lead with stage win

Paris - Britain's Geraint Thomas led a Sky one-two ahead of Mikel Landa on Wednesday's stage three of the Tour of the Alps to take the overall lead in the Giro d'Italia warm-up.

Overnight leader Thibaut Pinot came in fifth on the day - a 143km stage from Niederdorf to Villnoss - 13 seconds adrift as the French climber dropped to third in the standings.

Landa, who led the Sky Giro d'Italia team last season, had been leading by 20 seconds with Domenico Pozzovivo on the final climb, but Thomas made an uncharacteristic attack with 1km to go and easily bridged the gap.

He then launched a second assault within sight of the line taking the Spaniard with him and going four seconds clear of Pozzovivo in third.

"It’s a huge bonus to win the stage, take the jersey and have a nice little buffer over Pozzovivo and Pinot," the Welshman said after the race.

Landa warmly congratulated Thomas, the pair will be Sky co-leaders at the Giro, high-fiving him directly after the finish line.

Two more mountain stages remain with the Tour finishing with a daredevil descent into Trento on Friday.