Criterium du Dauphiné stage 3: Boasson Hagen wins for Sky in Tarare

Norwegian Edvald Boasson Hagen took the spoils in stage 3 of the Dauphiné today after a lead-out from teammate Geraint Thomas set him up to win the sprint by a wheel from Michael Matthews of Orica - GreenEdge. Gianni Meersman took third to cement his green jersey lead, with David Veilleux remaining in the overall lead.

Today's 167km parcours was predominantly flat with two category 3 climbs in the second half, but it didn't look like a day that would unduly tax the sprinters. Sander Cordeel (Lotto - Belisol), Fumiyuki Beppu (Orica - GreenEdge), Jacob Rathe (Garmin - Sharp) and Juan Antonio Flecha (Vacansoleil - DCM) went away as soon as racing was underway, and although they built up a decent advantage of over six minutes it never looked as if the peloton, marshalled by Europcar to protect current leader David Veilleux, would let them go. By the time the second climb reared up the advantage was down to less than a minute and Cordeel, the last rider to succumb, was reeled in with 13km to go.

With the TT specialists – including Tony Martin and Lieuwe Westra – dropping off to save their legs for tomorrow's individual time trial, it was the sprinters to the fore to contest the stage victory and a strong lead-out from Geraint Thomas put Boasson Hagen in a great position to just edge Matthews on the line.

Stage result

1. BOASSON HAGEN Edvald        SKY PROCYCLING           4h 03' 32" 
2. MATTHEWS Michael            ORICA GREENEDGE          st
3. MEERSMAN Gianni             OMEGA PHARMA-QUICK STEP  st
4. HUSHOVD Thor                BMC RACING TEAM          st
5. VIVIANI Elia                CANNONDALE               st
6. JANSE VAN RENSBURG Reinardt TEAM ARGOS-SHIMANO       st
7. BOUHANNI Nacer              FDJ                      st
8. VOSS Paul                   TEAM NETAPP-ENDURA       st
9. CHAVANEL Sylvain            OMEGA PHARMA-QUICK STEP  st
10. GAVAZZI Francesco          ASTANA PRO TEAM          st

Overall

1.  VEILLEUX David      TEAM EUROPCAR            12h 00' 22"  
2.  MEERSMAN Gianni     OMEGA PHARMA-QUICK STEP    + 01' 56"
3.  GALLOPIN Tony       RADIOSHACK LEOPARD         + 01' 57"
4.  VALVERDE Alejandro  MOVISTAR TEAM              + 01' 57"
5.  BARGUIL WARREN      TEAM ARGOS-SHIMANO         + 01' 57"
6.  FUGLSANG Jakob      ASTANA PRO TEAM            + 01' 57"
7.  THOMAS Geraint      SKY PROCYCLING             + 01' 57"
8.  MADRAZO Angel       MOVISTAR TEAM              + 01' 57"
9.  PORTE Richie        SKY PROCYCLING             + 01' 57"
10.  CONTADOR Alberto   TEAM SAXO-TINKOFF          + 01' 57"