Slovakia's Peter Sagan (Cannondale) celebrated his 60th professional victory at the end of the third stage from Tirreno-Adriatico. In Arezzo he won after a classic-like final in front of Michal Kwiatkowski (Omega Pharma-QuickStep), Simon Clarke (Orica-GreenEdge) and Philippe Gilbert (BMC). With his second place, Kwiatkowski took over the overall lead from his teammate Mark Cavendish, who had nothing to do with the stage finish.
The escape group lasted until almost 20 kilometers from the finish. When the lead had dropped from more than five minutes to more than half, Björn Thurau (Europcar) attacked his competitors, including Cesare Benedetti (NetApp-Endura). After that, the man from Fulda fought back bravely, but was stopped by the racing field six kilometers from the finish. The Omega Pharma-QuickStep team set the pace here. Above all, Tony Martin tried to launch his teammate Kwiatkowski. Unlike Strade Bianche, however, this time it found its master in Sagan.
Result
1. Peter Sagan (Cannondale) 5:10:17
2. Michal Kwiatkowski (Omega Pharma-QuickStep) 0:00:00
3. Simon Clarke (Orica GreenEdge) 0:00:00
4. Philippe Gilbert (BMC) 0:00:00
5. Daryl Impey (Orica-GreenEdge) 0:00:00
Total
1. Michal Kwiatkowski (Omega Pharma-QuickStep) 9:26:36
2. Rigoberto Uran Uran (Omega Pharma-QuickStep) 0:00:10
3. Simon Clarke (Orica GreenEdge) 0:00:13
4. Tony Martin (Omega Pharma-QuickStep) 0:00:15
5. Daryl Impey (Orica-GreenEdge) 0:00:17