Bryan Coquard wins Stage 3 at Étoile de Bessèges

Europcar’s Bryan Coquard sprinted to victory in Friday’s third stage of the Étoile de Bessèges, the five-day UCI 2.1  stage race held in Southern France. The Frenchman bettered second-placed Giacomo Nizzolo of Trek Factory Racing and Edward Theuns of Topsport Vlaanderen-Baloise, who was third, after a difficult day of racing that saw the peloton climb the Cat. 1 Col des Trélys three times before descending into Bessèges for three 6.8-km circuits to end the 152-km stage.

With warmer temperatures and less wind than Thursday’s brutal stage, the racing was aggressive from the gun, with group after group going off the front before a six-man break finally established itself after the second passage of the Col des Trélys. Pierre Rolland of Team Europcar, Frederik Backaert of Wanty-Groupe Gobert,  Yoann Paillot of Team Marseille 13-KTM, Baptiste Planckaert of Roubaix Lille Métropole, Fabricio Ferrari of Caja Rural and Flavien Dassonville of Auber 93 were the six who managed to get away. The break’s lead stretched out to three minutes before the group behind finally put some effort into the chase. When the peloton did get going, the gap began to drop quickly. By the time they reached the finishing circuits, with 28 km to go, the break’s advantage was halved to 1:30. With 10 km to go, it had dropped below a minute as Trek Factory Racing lead the charge for Kris Boeckmans, their man on top of the general classification.

Inside the final kilometre, the peloton made the catch, setting the scene for a bunch gallop to settle the stage’s honours. Coquard burst forth along the left-side barriers and just held on to take the win on the long drag up to the finish. Third-placed Edward Theuns moved into the leader’s jersey, as Boeckmans finished way back in 60th place in the sprint.

After Thursday’s race on the attack, Canada’s Hugo Houle of Ag2r-La Mondiale finished safely in the peloton in 42nd place.