Peter Sagan opened his 2019 victory account with a superbly timed sprint and a bike throw on the line.

Stage 3: Lobethal to Uraidla, 146.2km

It was déjà vu at the Tour Down Under as the top three on the Uraidla stage in 2018 battled it out for the win again. Peter Sagan (BORA-hansgrohe) repeated his victory by the closest of margins, chasing down Daryl Impey (Mitchelton-Scott) and just holding off a fast finishing Luis Leon Sanchez (Astana).

CCC’s Patrick Bevin retains the lead by a single second from Sagan, with Sanchez in third at +11secs. It’s going to be thriller on the infamous Corkscrew climb on Stage 4.

Sagan also takes the points jersey from Elia Viviani, despite the Italian making the break of the day and mopping up the early intermediate sprint points.

Happy Birthday for yesterday Lars Bak

Neutral zone neutralised

It certainly made for an explosive start. I rather enjoyed it.

Our first #OuEstLePetit of the year…

Full report at Cycling News.

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