Magnus Cort Nielsen sprints to win in Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana
Feb 03 2017 11:35 pm CET
SUBSCRIBE TO RSS FEEDSMagnus Cort Nielsen of Orica-Scott has won the third stage of the Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana. The Dane defeated Frenchmen Nacer Bouhanni and Bryan Coquard for the win.
The third of five stages began in Canals and finished in Riba-roja de Turia in the province of Valencia, with a total length of 163 kilometers.
Alexis Gougeard (AG2R La Mondiale), Aitor Gonzalez Prieto (Euskadi Basque Country-Murias), Daniel Lopez (Burgos BH) and Tyler Williams (Israel Cycling Academy) escaped from the peloton after just six kilometers and built a maximum lead of just under four minutes.
When the gap between the leaders and the peloton went below one minute, Jos van Emden of LottoNL-Jumbo and Elmar Reinders of Roompot attacked in an attempt to bridge the gap. The two Dutchmen succeeded and Van Emden even launched a second attack shortly after.
The solo attempt proved to be too much for the time trial specialists however and the peloton neutralized the situation with about 16 kilometers to go, despite having taken a wrong turn in their efforts to chase down the lone leader.
The finale in Riba-roja de Turia was rather dangerous with several 90-degree corners challenging the peloton, but the sprint trains came through without too much difficulty. At the finish, Cort Nielsen had the strongest legs stayed ahead of Cofidis rider Nacer Bouhanni to take the victory.
The region clearly suits Cort Nielsen as the Scandinavian had already won his first Vuelta a España in Gandia, in the same province, in 2016.
There are no major changes to the overall classification as Greg Van Avermaet of BMC Racing Team remains in the Yellow Jersey.
