Following the sweltering heat of stage two, stage three provided more relaxed and tolerable conditions for the riders in the Amgen Tour of California as Peter Sagan (Cannondale) added to his race record tally of stage wins, getting number nine in the sprint into Santa Clarita.

At first Sagan found it difficult to find a sprinting lane since he was stuck behind the first line of fast men until he found a hole on the right side and launched a short but powerful sprint to put a bike length on second placed Michael Matthews (Orica-GreenEdge) while Tyler Farrar (Garmin-Sharp) came up for third.

The archetypal day for the sprinters kicked off in conventional style, with an attack by Jens Voigt (Radioshack-Leopard) straight after the start. Voigt couldn’t break clear alone, but the German veteran did join a 23-man breakaway that enjoyed a 45-second advantage after 25 kilometres of racing.

Four climbs graced the stage, offering points. King of the Mountains Carter Jones (Bissell) had gotten into the 23-man breakaway, and emerged from the group to sweep up the maximum points on Munz Ranch Road. At the top of the climb, the peloton had reeled in the large group of escapees, and on the protracted drop, four men charged up the road and established the day’s feature break.

Lieuwe Westra (Vacansoleil-DCM), Gavin Mannion (Bontrager), Chad Beyer (Champion System), and Andy Schleck (RadioShack-Leopard) collaborated well, and 40km in to the 177km day, their lead was 2’30”. The quartet added two more minutes over the ensuing 15km, and the gap continued to drift around four minutes as the break swung onto Lake Hughes Road to begin the first of its two climbs.

Beyer led the escape over both the climbs unchallenged and when the group crested the second climb, they had a 4’45” gap on the peloton. Jamis-Hagens Berman and race leader Janier Acevedo, along with Cannondale and Garmin-Sharp got to business with 80km to race, reducing their deficit to less than four minutes, and with 60km left it was down to three minutes. With 40km to race, the quartet was within reach at 2’35”, and With 20km to go, the peloton was 45 seconds behind, and it wasn’t long before Westra and Schleck sat up.

Beyer continued his efforts for a short while longer, but he too soon found himself back in the restrictions of the peloton, as teams were coming together at the front to place their sprinters in optimum positions. With 6km to go, Markel Irizar (RadioShack-Leopard) hit out in an effort to copy Westra’s win on the opening stage, but the peloton was more observant this time, and Irizar got nowhere.

BMC was the final team on the front heading toward the line, in a lead-out set up for Hushovd. The Norwegian duly opened his sprint, but never managed to seriously threaten to take the stage. Matthews, though, seemed to have found the right angle - until Sagan found his.

Tour of California Stage 3: Palmdale – Santa Clarita (177km) Brief Results:
1. Peter Sagan (Cannondale)
2. Michael Matthews (Orica-GreenEdge)
3. Tyler Farrar (Garmin-Sharp)
4. Gianni Meersman (Omega Pharma-Quick Step)
5. Boy Van Poppel (Vacansoleil-DCM)
6. Thor Hushovd (BMC Racing)
7. Alex Candelario (Optum-Kelly Benefit Strategies)
8. Sylvain Chavanel (Omega Pharma-Quick Step)
9. Zakkari Dempster (NetApp-Endura)
10. Michael Mørkøv (Saxo-Tinkoff)

General Classification after Stage 3:
1. Janier Acevedo (Jamis-Hagens Berman)
2. Tejay Van Garderen (BMC Racing), 12”
3. Philip Deignan (UnitedHealthcare), 27”
4. Mathias Frank (BMC Racing), 45”
5. Michael Rogers (Saxo-Tinkoff), 55”
6. Francisco Mancebo (5-Hour Energy), 1’03”
7. Chad Haga (Optum-Kelly Benefit Strategies), 1’13”
8. Matthew Busche (Radioshack-Leopard), 1’15”
9. Lawson Craddock (Bontrager), 1’32”
10. Cameron Meyer (Orica-GreenEdge), 1’40”