The young Marcel Kittel (Argos-Shimano) sat on the same time as yellow jersey Bryan Coquard (Europcar) in Nanteuil-le-Haudouin this morning, but he broke the tie in Soissons this afternoon by handily winning the sprint finish of the last stage of the Tour de Picardie.
With two stage victories and the overall win in the bag, the German whiz matched the performance of his teammate and fellow countryman, John Degenkolb, in last year's race. Coquard only managed twelfth in today's stage and had to settle for second overall, while Kenny van Hummel (Vacansoleil) finished second and took the bottom step of the podium. David Boucher (FDJ) lit the fireworks in today's stage and was rewarded with the best climber's jersey for his efforts.
The 121 riders left in the 2013 Tour de Picardie after Delage's withdrawal during yesterday's stage left Nanteuil-le-Haudouin (Oise) for Soissons (Aisne) at a high pace. The peloton was fidgety from the very beginning and several riders were involved in a fall just a few kilometres into the race, including Drujon (BigMat) and Van der Sande (Lotto-Belisol), who were forced to quit the race.
Three against two
David Boucher (FDJ) launched a decisive attack at km 12, with Maxime Daniel (Sojasun) and Benjamin Giraud (La Pomme-Marseille) hot on his heels. The three breakaway riders worked together smoothly and quickly put clear daylight between themselves and the bunch. 2005 Tour de Picardie stage winner Lloyd Mondory (AG2R) and Luca Wackermann (Lampre) missed the train but tried to make amends three kilometres later. Despite coming within striking distance from the front of the race (20″ in Villers-Cotterêts, at km 33.5), the two men were unable to close the gap. After a long, tantalising chase, they finally gave up when the difference reached one minute at kilometre 65.
Boucher leapfrogs Minard
By the time Boucher went across the top of the Côte de Braine (km 81.5) in first place, the breakaway had a 2′40″ advantage on the bunch led by the race leader's team, Europcar. The gap peaked at three minutes at the first intermediate sprint in Malval (km 100.5), taken by Daniel. David Boucher grabbed a few more precious points at the top of the Côte de Coucy-le-Château-Auffrique (km 131.5, with 39.5 kilometres to go), ensuring that once in Soissons he would seize the best climber's jersey from the man who took it yesterday, Minard.
The moment of truth for Kittel and Coquard
The three brave escapees were finally caught with 25 km to go. Coquard won the intermediate sprint on the first crossing of the finish line in Soissons (km 160.5, with 10.5 kilometres to go), netting himself a precious three-second bonus to move away from Kittel.
However, the German was keeping his powder dry for the final sprint, which Arnaud Démare (FDJ) was forced to sit out due to a fall nine kilometres from the finish. Kittel, the winner of the first stage in Flixecourt two days ago, launched a brutal sprint in the final straight in Soissons that left all his rivals in the dust. The German took back the yellow jersey and the final general classification, where he was followed by Coquard (twelfth today) and Van Hummel (second).
Resultat, stage 3:
1 Marcel Kittel - Team Argos-Shimano
2 Kenny Van Hummel - Vacansoleil-DCM
3 Danny Van Poppel - Vancansoleil-DCM
4 Adrien Petit - Cofidis, Solutions Credits
5 Jens Debusschere - Lotto-Belisol
6 Evaldas Siskevicius - Sojasun
7 Kristan Sbaragli - MTN-Qhubeka
8 Maximiliano Axel Richeze - Lampre-Merida
9 Yannick Martinez - Team La Pomme-Marseille
10 Maxime le Montagner - Roubaix Lille Metropole
Overall classification:
1 Marcel Kittel - Team Argos-Shimano 13.08.44
2 Bryan Coquard - Team Europcar 0.07”
3 Kenny Van Hummel - Vacansoleil-DCM 0.20”
4 Sebastian Minard - AG2R La Mondiale
5 Sven Vandousselaere - Topsport Vlaanderen-Baloise 0.21”
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