John Degenkolb (Giant-Shimano) is simply unstoppable in the Tour Mediteraneen. After two consecutive stage wins in the first two stages, the German added a third one to his palmares when he beat Thor Hushovd (BMC) and Sonny Colbrelli (Bardiani) in a sprint at the end of a very fast and very windy morning stage, and so he defended his overall lead ahead of the afternoon time trial.

After three stages there is no longer any reason to question who is the fastest sprinter in the Tour Mediteraneen. Having already won the first two stages of the race, John Degenkolb again prevailed when the race continued with a short 63km morning stage.

Degenkolb again proved that he has an impressive burst of speed when he powered down the uphill finishing straight in St. Remy de Provence to hold off Thor Hushovd and the in-form Sonny Colbrelli. The win was his third in the race and continues the strong season start that has seen him finish in the top 10 in all races he has done so far.

However, it was certainly no easy morning in the saddle for the German. The short stage took place under very windy conditions and right from the beginning the peloton split to pieces. As a consequence, the stage was raced at an extremely fast pace, with several riders losing precious time in what many had hoped would be an easy stage.

With three stage wins, Degenkolb is of course the overall leader of the race but as there are no bonus seconds in the race, he is equal on time with a host of riders. His time in the leader's jersey is likely to come to an end later in the afternoon when the peloton contests the 18.2km time trial. The stage is held on a hilly course and will give the first indication of who can win the race overall, with the final decision being made in tomorrow's uphill finish on the famous Mont Faron.

A short stage

The third day of racing started with a short 63km morning stage from Lambesc to St. Remy de Provence. The route was mostly flat but had two category 2 climbs that could test the riders' legs. Right from the beginning, the riders headed up the 2.6km Cote de Lambesc while the final climb featured in the finale, summiting just 7.7km from the finish.

With the road ascending right from the beginning, the pace was fast from the start when KOM leader Jarlinson Pantano (Colombia), Dmitri Le Boulch (BigMat), Arnaud Courteille (FDJ), and Christope Premont (Wallonie) went on the attack. Mikael Cherel (Ag2r) set off in pursuit and the quintet joined forces before the top of the climb.

The wind wreaks havoc on the peloton

Pantano beat Premont and Le Boulch to extend his lead in the mountains competition but the real drama unfolded behind. Heading down the descent, the peloton hit a windy section that saw it blow to pieces.

First, it broke into two parts and later, 4 big groups were spread across the road. Two of those merged but for a long time, 3 groups were involved in a fierce pursuit.

Several teams ride hard on the front

The fast pace was bad news for the escapees who managed to build up a 50-second advantage but failed to stretch it even further. Europcar and Bardiani were the driving forces in the first group and later Giant-Shimano, BMC and IAM also came to the fore.

The front quintet did their best to stay away and managed to hold a 40-second gap for quite some time. To do this, however, they had to dig really deep and this was costly when they neared the end.

The break splits up

With 36km to go, Courteille fell off the pace and a little later Pantano also had to give up. The remaining trio stayed ahead for a further 15km but with 20km to go, it was back together.

Caja Rural helped drive the pace as some of the groups had again merged after the early drama and at the intermediate sprint 14km from the finish, Fabricio Ferrari and Omar Fraile from the Spanish team led Gian-Shimano GC rider Tobias Ludvigsson across the line. Moments later, they started climbing the final ascent and Giant-Shimano immediately moved to the front to control the situation.

Betancur attacks

Carlos Betancur (Ag2r) launched an immediate attack but had little success. Several other ill-fated attempts were launched but Giant-Shimano and Caja Rural joined forces to control things.

At the top, Cyril Gautier (Europcar) was first across the line ahead of Ben Hermans (BMC) and Dries Devenyns (Giant-Shimano) but the peloton was mostly together and all was now set for another bunch sprint. The pace was kept high on the fast descent while the sprinters jostled for position ahead of the final dash to the line.

In the sprint, there was again no doubt about Degenkolb's superiority, with the German holding off Hushovd and Colbrelli to make it three in a row.