Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana: Van Avermaet wins stage 3

08 February 2019 02:23
Greg Van Avermaet took his first victory of the season for the new-look CCC Team, winning the uphill sprint on stage 3 of the Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana. The Belgian launched his sprint off the wheel of Luis Leon Sanchez (Astana) and took the victory ahead of the previous day’s winner Matteo Trentin (Mitchelton-Scott), while Sanchez hung on for third. World champion Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) finished fourth in Chera. Edvald Boasson Hagen (Dimension Data) stayed safely inside the front group over the last ascent to the finish line, and retained his lead in the overall classification for a third day. He heads into stage 4 with a five-second margin over runner-up Ion Izagirre (Astana) and eight seconds on third-placed Dylan Teuns (Bahrain-Merida).ADVERTISEMENT "I was really happy to win here for sure. It's always great to start the season off with a win on a hard parcours," said Van Avermaet. "It was difficult and everyone was on the limit. However, I felt really strong. The team did a really good effort on the climb before so it was down to me to do a good result. I was in a really good position on the last switchback, it was perfect and I started my sprint and hoped nobody came round me. It's really good to start the season like that." On a day of relentlessly undulating terrain and with a viciously technical finish in the tiny mountain village of Chera, Van Avermaet overhauled Spain's Luis Leon Sanchez (Astana Pro Team) to claim his first individual victory since the Tour de Yorkshire last May. You can read more at Cyclingnews.com.readfullarticle

Source: Cycling News