Rudy Molard (Cofidis) became a hugely surprising winner of the third stage of the Tour du Limousin when his 9-rider breakaway managed to hold off the peloton after a hectic finale. In the final dash to the line, he beat Florian Vachon (Bretagne) and Julien Antomarchi (Roubaix) while Jesus Herrada (Movistar) defended his overall lead by arriving four seconds later.

The Tour du Limousin is known for its lumpy terrain that makes the stages hard to control but with lots of sprinters and puncheurs on the start list, the stages almost always come down to some kind of sprint from a bigger group. However, the many hills provide attackers a chance to create a surprise and that’s what climber Rudy Molard did in today’s third stage.

Known for his climbing skills in hilly terrain, Molard has proved himself in tough stage races like the Tour de Luxembourg where he has twice been in the top 5 in his short career that started in 2015. He has also shown promise in the Ardennes classics but the elusive first victory has always escaped him.

That changed today in a stage that didn’t look like it would be one for him. However, the race is usually decided by bonus seconds so he decided to go on the attack to see if he could pick up some seconds in the intermediate sprints and so gain some time in the overall standings.

The outcome was better than expected as he won the stage and moved into second, just 1 second behind overall leader Jesus Herrada.

"I'm very happy, it's my first win as a pro after four years," he told Directvelo. "Until now I had  finished second twice (on a stage of the Tour of Catalonia and the Tour of Luxembourg in 2014, ed). These are moments that I can not forget. I enjoyed it.

"I knew we would be on winding roads, it is the classic Tour du Limousin. So I have always believed in it, especially on with 8 riders in the group and as the Movistar team had already wored for two days. I did well because it paid off.

"I thought that with a good breakaway it was possible today with the winding roads and profile. I tried, I saw that many fought hard and often when it's like that, the breakaway can stay away and that's what happened today.

"I had good legs, and yet I have not raced a lot because I was preparing for the Vuelta, but I was not selected so my preparation has been good. We saw that today.

"Hopefully I'll get more confidence. I know that I am now able to win in the pros ranks so I can try to get a second victory and why not tomorrow.

"The goal now is to take that second, it will be hard. I think there is a sprint after 17km. But there is also Colbrelli who is not far away (7", ed), it promises to be a great battle. It's going to be decided by bonus seconds and I  prefer when it's about the legs. There will be only three laps in the end. Usually, there have been more. It's a shame.

"I will try but it would be better to have an advantage of one second. Tomorrow is a difficult course and there are also bonuses during the stage. I will try everything but Colbrelli is very fast and could win tomorrow. So I will do everything to try to win this Tour du Limousin, although it will not be easy with the attacks that will come

"It means a lot because it's my first win, and this is my fourth year as a pro and I had still not won. I was second twice, I had taken a lot of places in the top 10, but I was never able to raise my arms. It's great, especially in a race like the Tour du Limousin, I love this race and after a difficult stage like now it's great.

"It is a small consolation for the fact that I lost my spot in the Vuelta team. I was a bit frustrated not to go, because I had done everything to get there and so I knew I was riding well."

"I thought they would go to the end," sports director Stephane Auge said. "Nico (Edet) has not attacked, he just followed an attack by two other riders, but I wondered what he was doing. After he saw the breakaway being close,  he left them behind and returned to the break. After he got there, he made an effort to ride away before Rudy tried his luck in the sprint. I knew that Rudy was very strong, he had told me in the morning and throughout the day. It went well so it's perfect.

"We will try but  there are other teams who also want the jersey and they will want to score the bonuses. So we'll see what we can do, we'll look at the rankings but for sure we will try to do something. Herrada is really strong, but we do not admit defeat. We will make the calculations tomorrow night. We will mainly look at the rankings. Florian Vachon in third is also fast so there is plenty to do again tomorrow."