Etoile de Bessèges: Mads Pedersen wins stage 3 and jumps into race lead

The Etoile de Bessèges was won by Mads Pedersen this afternoon. The Lidl-Trek rider was the strongest in the final sprint out of a reduced peloton after a tough day out in the hills.

A strong group marked the breakaway of the day containing Simon Carr, Alexis Gougeard, Sander de Pestel, Thibault Guernalec, Jonas Abrahamsen, Thomas Gachinard and Théo Delacroix. The group of seven was a threat to the stage win but it proved to not be strong enough to hold off the peloton.

Over the day's climbs there were a few attacks, but none came close to creating serious damage, and eventually a fast-moving peloton caught up with the escapee group with 13 kilometers to go, with a peloton that was still sizeable and heading towards a bunch sprint.

Marco Brenner of Tudor attacked with just over 5 kilometers to go, he was eventually caught almost inside the final kilometer. Kévin Vauquelin, Toms Skujins and Alex Kirsch still had shots at the front of the peloton, Lidl-Trek set things up for Mads Pedersen and the Dane sealed the deal.

The Dane sprinted and took his win, jumping to the race lead as well. Milan Menten and Rasmus Tiller finished second and third on the day.