Peter Sagan wins third stage and Damiano Cunego takes overall lead in 2011 Tour de Suisse
Liquigas-Cannondale team’s Peter Sagan won the third stage of 2011 Tour de Suisse on Monday, June 13. Damiano Cunego took the overall leader’s yellow jersey.
The race started in Brig-Gils and ended in Grindelwald. The 21-year-old Sagan took a total of 3 hours, 9 minutes and 47 seconds to cover the distance of 107.6 kilometres.
The race leader, Damiano Cunego of Lampre-ISD was the runner-up. Jakob Fuglsang of Leopard Trek finished in the third spot with a difference of 21 seconds.
After winning the stage, Peter said, "Salerno was in front of me but I didn't see his crash, I just saw him lying on the ground, that’s when I said to myself I had to risk everything to try and catch Cunego."
On the final climb, Andy Schleck was unable to maintain his pace and grabbed the 21st spot with 3 minutes and 41 seconds behind Peter.
A group of three cyclists made their first breakaway, including Jens Voigt (Leopard Trek), Daryl Impey (Netapp) and Jakob Fuglsang (Leopard Trek). All of them gained an advantage of 20 seconds, but Jens Voigt won the first sprint.
In the last few kilometres of the race, Enrico Gasparotto tried his best to catch the Belgian, but he failed and Jan Bakelants of Omega Pharma-Lotto won the final sprint of the stage.
Recently, Peter took first place in overall classification in Giro di Sardegna and also grabbed third spot in Classica Sarda. He also won the third stage of Tour of Switzerland.
Damiano Cunego took overall standing with the timing of 7 hours, 43 minutes and 16 seconds. Juan Mauricio Soler was runner-up with 54 seconds behind Damiano.
Cunego said, "After yesterday's good stage, in accordance with my sport directors and teammates, I decided to try to win the race. I knew that the last kilometres of the Grosse Scheidegg could be suitable for my characteristics, so I attacked and I pedaled in an effective way.”
Bauke Mollema of Rabobank Cycling was in the third position with a difference of 1 minute and 16 seconds.
Laurens Ten Dam took the title of King of Mountain (KOM) with 31 points ahead of Damaino and Matti. Lloyd Mondory won the overall sprint with 12 points and Jan Bakelants was in the second spot with 6 points.
The next stage will start in Grindelwald and end in Huttwil. All the riders will cover a distance of 198.4 kilometres.
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