Kristian Sbaragli (MTN-Qhubeka) continued his consistent sprinting when he finished 3rd in the bunch sprint in stage 3 of the Tour des Fjords. Unfortunately, 9 riders had escaped in the finale and so the team missed out on a podium spot.

Magnus Cort (Cult Energy) continued his good run of form today at the 3rd Tour des Fjords stage and took out the stage win ahead of Michael Valgren (Tinkoff – Saxo) and Jerome Baugnies (Wanty Groupe Gobert). The 3 riders were part of 9 man group that arrived at the finish ahead of the chasing peloton. Team MTN-Qhubeka p/b Samsung had Kristian Sbaragli  finish 3rd in the sprint from the peloton, it was only good enough for 12th on the day though.

The early racing saw Jesper Hansen (Tinkoff-Saxo), Gregory Habeaux (Wanty Groupe Gobert), Amets Tuxurrka (Caja Rural), Lennard Hofstede (Rabobank Development) and Rasmus Guldhammer (Trefor Bluewater) jump clear of the peloton. The 5 riders were able to build up a lead of 5’30″ by the 90km mark before the chasing started from behind. The break always seemed doomed as a number of teams were hoping to get something out of the stage still.

With 30km left to race Tuxurrka was the last of the original break to be caught. A new break then formed with 3 riders going clear of another 6 by a handful of seconds and then the peloton trailed around 30″ behind the leaders. It would remain a close chase to the line but the peloton was not able to reel in the 9 riders ahead of them while the two leading groups came together in the final 500m to contest for the win.

"It wasn’t the best day for us today," Directeur Sportif Manel Lacambra  said. "We missed the initial break and this meant that we lost the climbers jersey. Then Wesemann did an excellent job in working together with the other teams to close the first break of the day  but then another break got away and we missed the move again. We tried to close the gap but it was not possible by just 10 seconds.

"We are disappointed because Kristian did an excellent sprint finishing 3rd of the bunch and without the break today it was possible to be on the podium. We hope for a better result tomorrow."