Nikias Arndt (Giant-Shimano) won what could be the only battle for the sprinters in this year’s Criterium du Dauphiné when he beat Kris Boeckmans (Lotto Belisol) in a photo finish. In a very hectic and chaotic finale where big favourite Arnaud Demare (FDJ) never got the chance to sprint, he hit the front early after trying to lead out his teammate Reinardt Van Rensburg but held on to take the win on a calm day for Chris Froome (Sky) who easily defended his overall lead.

 

Giant-Shimano are known for their sprinting prowess and even though Marcel Kittel and John Degenkolb may be taking most of the headlines, they have a wide range of fast finishers that are ready to step in in the absence of the German super stars. During the last few weeks, Ramon Sinkeldam and Luka Mezgec have both taken bunch sprint wins and today it was another one of the team’s promising sprinters that got to the top step of the podium.

 

With neither Kittel nor Degenkolb in the race, Nikias Arndt and Reinardt Janse Van Rensburg are set to share sprinting duties in this year’s Criterium du Dauphiné and today it seemed that the team had decided to give the latter his chance in the third stage of the race. In the end, however, it was Arndt who took the win as he finished his lead-out off in style by holding on all the way to the finish.

 

The stage was always expected to end in a bunch sprint and Trek and FDJ had made sure to control the early breakaway for their sprinters Giacomo Nizzolo and Arnaud Demare. Unfortunately, the former crashed out of the race, leaving it to the Frenchmen to set up the sprint finish.

 

When the break was brought back pretty early, a dangerous 8-rider break instigated by Jens Voigt (Trek) went up the road and several teams had to combine forces to bring it back. Later a strong Lieuwe Westra (Astana) tried to deny the sprinters but the fierce headwind spelled an end for his chances.

 

The windy conditions and the hard chase made the sprint a very confusing affair where no team was able to control. However, it seemed that Orica-GreenEDGE had made things right when Leigh Howard led Jens Keukeleire through the final turn 450m from the line.

 

When the Belgian launched his sprint, he started to fade and instead Arndt powered ahead, being clearly faster than his designated sprinter Van Rensburg. The German seemed to be powering to a clear victory when Kris Boeckmans suddenly emerged, thundering down the middle of the road and crossing the line next to Arndt.

 

None of the sprinters knew who had taken the win but the photo clearly revealed that the German had narrowly held on to take the biggest victory of his career. His teammate Van Resnburg held off Yannick Martinez (Europcar) in the battle for third to make it two Giant-Shimano riders on the podium.

 

For big favourite Demare, it was a chaotic finish as he lost the wheel of his lead-out riders William Bonnet and Mickael Delage. Hence, he never got the chance the sprint and rolled across the line far back in 8th.

 

For Chris Froome (Sky), it was a very easy day and the Brit safely crossed the line with his 12-second advantage over Alberto Contador (Tinkoff-Saxo) still intact. He can expect to come under bigger threat in tomorrow’s fourth stage which is a real classic. After a long gradual uphill, the stage ends with the category 2 Col de Manse and the feared 12.5km descent down to the finish in Gap and even though the ascent is usually not hard enough to create a big selection, the GC riders may try to test each other.

 

One for the sprinters

After two hard days for the GC riders, it was back into flatter terrain in what could be the only opportunity for the sprinters in the 8-day race. The first part was very lumpy and contained two category 2 climbs. After the Col de la Mure, however, 46km still remained and they consisted of a fast descent and completely flat roads in the Rhone valley, making it possible for the sprinters to set things up for a bunch sprint.

After the very hot first road stage, sweltering heat was again expected when the riders left Ambert early in the morning under a 28-degree temperature. One rider who finished yesterday's stage, David Boucher (FDJ), didn't take the start as the Frenchman missed the time cut after suffering a heatstroke in the brutal heat.

 

An early break

The first part of the stage is pretty lumpy and so it invited the riders to aggressive racing but with a fierce headwind blowing all the way to the finish, the attacking spirit had been dampened significantly. When Blel Kadri (Ag2r), Natnael Berhane (Europcar) and Cesare Benedetti (NetApp) attacked straight from the gun, they were allowed to take off and after 4km of racing, they were already 50 seconds ahead.

 

Four kilometres further up the road, the quintet had already built a 3.50 advantage over the peloton which was led by Sky. The British team set a steady to pace to keep th gap stable between the 4- and 5-minute marks in the early part of the stage.

 

A slow start

Meanwhile, the riders battled for KOM points on the Cote de Lavet where Berhane did his best to protect the mountains jersey of his teammate Kevin Reza by beating Benedetti and Kadri in the sprint. A little later Reza beat Thomas Damuseau and his teammate Vincent Jerome in the battle for the remaining points, meaning that he strengthened his position in the mountains competition.

 

While Sky continued to set a steady pace, the riders only covered 28.5km in the first hour as they were clearly slowed down by the hard terrain and the headwind. With the British team having no clear interest in chasing too hard, the gap went up to 7.30 before an FDJ rider started to contribute to the pace-setting.

 

FDJ lead the chase

The French team took complete control and in a rather short time, they brought the gap down to 2.10. Having the situation under control, they again loosened their grip a bit and the gap got back up to 3.15. Meanwhile, Trek have joined them on the front, meaning that the teams of the two biggest favourites shared the workload.

 

Nizzolo crashes out

The riders only covered 93km in the first three hours of racing, making it a very slow stage. There was no big stress as Markel Irizar (Trek) and Pierrick Fedrigo (FDJ) set the pace, keeping the gap stable at 2.25 for some time.

 

With 66km to go, Irizar got a chance to rest his legs as his teammate Jens Voigt took over the chasing duties. Unfortunately, the Trek team saw their plans getting ruined just 3km later when a big crash brought down several riding including their star sprinters Giacomo Nizzolo, Jan Barta (NetApp), Julian Alaphilippe (OPQS), Filippo Pozzato (Lampre-Merida), Benat Intxausti (Movistar) and Van Rensburg, and the Italian Trek rider never got back on his bike.

 

Hushovd drops off

Of course Trek stopped their work and so it was left to Fedrigo to lead the peloton onto the Col de la Mure. The Frenchman did an amazing job to bring the gap down to 1.40 by the time they started to climb.

 

Thor Hushovd (BMC) fell off the pace immediately while other riders also started to struggle. However, the pace was not too fast as Fedrigo was still setting the pace, with his FDJ sprint train sitting on his wheel.

 

Sky hit the front

As they approached the summit, however, Sky, decided that they wanted to keep Froome safe on the descent and so Richie Porte hit the front. The Australian set a brutal pace that saw several riders getting dropped, including Boeckmans, Jurgen Roelandts, Martijn Keizer, Jack Bobridge, Vasil Kiryienka and Xabier Zandio.

 

Berhane led Benedetti and Kadri across the line at the top while Porte followed 40 seconds later. Sky kept the speed high all the way down the descent but by the time they reached the flat roads, they again slowed down and let the gap grow back up to 1.10.

 

The break gives up

While Benedetti led Berhane and Kadri across the line at the intermediate sprint, Fedrigo went back to work and he did an impressive performance to bring the gap down to less than 30 seconds. The escapees briefly tried to make a reaction but when they continued to lose ground, they decided to sit up.

 

Things were back together with 24km to go and so Fedrigo disappeared from the front. Hence, Sky again took over but the pace set by Danny Pate was not too fast.

 

Voigt kicks into action

With 20km to go, Trek started their plan B as Fumiyuki Beppu launched Voigt off in an attack. Andriy Grivko (Astana), Imanol Erviti (Movistar) and Nicolas Edet (Cofidis) joined him and a little later Pim Ligthart (Lotto Belisol) also bridged the gap.

 

While there was no immediate reaction from the peloton, more riders took off, and Kristijan Koren (Cannondale), Elia Favilli (Lampre-Merida) and Alexis Gougeard (Ag2r) all made it across to make it an 8-rider break. In just a few kilometres, they had built a 40-second advantage but now FDJ and OPQS had started to chase.

 

Katusha make the difference

Arthur Vichot (FDJ) and Carlos Verona (OPQS) did the early work but as they continued to lose ground Daan Olivier (Giant-Shimano) and Yoann Offredo (FDJ) also started to chase. They stabilized the situation until Katusha hit the front with 12km to go.

 

The Russian trio of Egor Silin, Yury Trofimov and Dmitry Kozontchuk combined forces with Thomas Voeckler (Europcar), Kevin De Weert (OPQS) and Verona to chase and now the gap stated to come down. With 9km to go, it was down to just 10 seconds and 2km further up the road, the break was caught.

 

Westra makes a move

Edet made a counterattack and was joined by Favilli but OPQS brought things back together when 6km still remained. Tinkoff-Saxo took over with Sergio Paulinho to keep Contador safe and this brought the pace down.

 

Westra saw his chance to attack 4km from the line and he quickly got a decent gap. Behind, Giant-Shimano hit the front and while Lotto moved up alongside them, they brought the Dutch TT specialist back 1km from the line.

 

Julian Alaphilippe took over for OPQS and he led the peloton under the flamme rouge. Lotto Belisol briefly took over but it was Howard and Keuleire that led the peloton into the final turn. The Belgian sprinter was delivered on the front but in the end Arndy emerged as the strongest.