Etoile de Bessèges - Tour du Gard 2025 Stage 3

February 7, 2025 There is more climbing than yesterday but the finale is similar with two climbs in the final 25KM. Neither go steeper than 5.5% average and with 12KM after the top of the final climb of the Col des Brousses, which is taken on twice during the day, there should be time to organize for another bunch sprint. The weather at the start made a turn for the worse as a cold rain came down and was forecasted to continue throughout the stage. That was not the only news at the start however. After 12KM of racing, a car entered a roundabout as the riders were coming through and, after the incident yesterday, the riders stopped in protest. After 90 minutes of deliberation, eight teams decided to exit the race, including most of the World Tour squads. As a result, the final local lap which would have included our two climbs was removed and what is left of the peloton will likely contest a bunch sprint. When racing resumed, Oliver Knight of Cofidis went off alone but he would eventually be joined by Valentin Retailleau of TotalEnergies, Hugo Aznar of Equipo Kern Pharma, and Antoine Hue of CIC-U Nantes at 76KM to go. Arkéa-B&B Hotels did almost all of the chasing and kept the break around 90 seconds for the entire day. The first moves came on the Col des Brousses with 38KM to go by Cofidis who had Knight in the break. A group of riders got away over the top for a wet descent. The break was absorbed by the attack and a group of 12 riders went clear, led by Cofidis and no representation from Arkéa-B&B Hotels who had done so much work up to this point. Equipo Kern Pharma helped on the front but the bunch still had 25 seconds to close when they hit the uncategorized final climb with 23KM to go. The race was completely in pieces over the top of the uncategorized climb and on the descent. A group of 15 hit the main road at 18KM to go with a larger peloton about 20 seconds back. Flanders-Baloise pulled it all together and about 45 riders were together for the flat run in. Dylan Teuns of Cofidis saw that many teams had done a lot of work until now and took his opportunity to attack. TotalEnergies came to help at the front and kept Teuns within 20 seconds. He was finally caught with 4.5 kilometers to go as the remaining riders in the sprint teams started to increase the pace going into the finish. Groupama-FDJ had three riders as the went through the final kilometer. The speed was fast but their sprinter Paul Penhoët hesitated a little long. Arnaud Démare of Arkéa-B&B Hotels got the jump first on the left side of Penhoët. Arnaud De Lie of Lotto saw him and started his sprint on Penhoët's right. They both passed Penhoët and were locked in a drag race to the line. It was De Lie who had the faster legs and took the win by half a bike length to Démare. Penhoët kept enough speed to hang on to third place. De Lie took over the GC lead by 6 seconds on Penhoët and 8 seconds on Sandy Dujardin of TotalEnergies but there won't be much a party at Lotto because only Baptiste Veistroffer remains in the race alongside De Lie.