Jonathan Hivert takes first WorldTour victory on Paris-Nice stage three

Jonathan Hivert took his first ever WorldTour stage win after a late attack in the final 20km that saw Luis Leon Sanchez take the overall lead of Paris-Nice on stage three.

Jonathan Hivert came 8th overall in 2009
Photo credit: velonews.com
Remy Di Gregorio (Delko Marseille Provence KTM) attacked the peloton on the descent of the Cote de Charbonnieres and was followed by Sanchez (Astana) and Hivert (Direct Energie) who held a 38-second lead to the finish before the Direct Energie veteran won the sprint in Chatel-Guyon.

 Arnaud Demare (Groupama-FDJ) won the battle of the sprinters at the head of the chasing pack but lost the leader's yellow jersey. 

The Race

After a sedentary stage yesterday with a very low average speed and no breakaway until 90km to the finish, it was back to business as usual on stage three from Bourges to Chatel-Guyon as the group of Jay Robert Thomson (Dimension Data), Fabien Grellier (Direct Energie) and Przemyslaw Kasperkiewicz (Delko Marseille Provence KTM) broke free. 

At the first intermediate sprint Thomson came out on top. Grellier then got the best of the trio at the first climb of the day - the category three Cote de la Bosse - as the Frenchman targeted Pierre-Luc Perichon's polka-dot jersey. 

Grellier, keen to add to his KOM total, attacked on the category three Cote des Boulards and left Kasperkiewicz and Thomson behind. 

With 46km remaining, Grellier had 1'20" over his former breakaway companions and a further 45-seconds back to the peloton led by Groupama-FDJ. 

Grellier couldn't gather enough points to lead the King of the Mountains outright though as he was caught with 36km to go on the Cote de Charbonnieres. 

The disparity of the climbing strengths of the sprinters was clear as the peloton made its way up the final climb of the day, with Dylan Groenewegen (LottoNL-Jumbo) and Nacer Bohanni (Cofidis) dropped but Demare comfortable sitting near the front with his teammates.

Julian Alaphilippe (Quick-Step Floors) and Tim Wellens (Lotto Soudal) attacked off the peloton and were joined by Gorka Izagirre (Bahrain Merida), Jakob Fuglsang (Astana), and Hivert but the group didn't seem to work well together with the chasing peloton catching them with 20km to go. 

It was over the crest of the Cote de Charbonnieres that the decisive attack happened with Di Gregorio, Sanchez and Hivert opening a gap and leaving Alaphilippe frustrated with the lack of help from the rest of the peloton.

With the front group's lead at 50-seconds the peloton were rejoined by most of the previously dropped sprinters, who'd benefited from the lack of pace. 

The gradient sharpened with 2km to go and Di Gregorio attacked with the flamme rouge and victory in sight. 

Sanchez closed the gap to the Frenchman but it was Hivert who'd played the tactics perfectly and easily out-sprinted the others to register his first ever WorldTour stage win.

Stage Result

1. Jonathan Hivert (Direct Energie)
2. Luis Leon Sanchez (Astana) at 1"
3. Remy Di Gregorio (Delko Marseille Provence KTM) at 1"
4. Arnaud Demare (Groupama-FDJ) at 38"
5. Mike Teunissen (Team Sunweb)
6. André Greipel (Lotto Soudal)
7. Magnus Cort Nielsen (Astana)
8. Matteo Trentin (Mitchelton-Scott)
9. Julian Alaphilippe (Quick-Step Floors)
10. Felix Großschartner (Bora-Hansgrohe)

General Classification

1. Luis León Sanchez (Astana) in 13-21-55
2. Arnaud Demare (Groupama-FDJ) at 28"
3. Gorka Izagirre (Bahrain-Merida) at 35"
4. Julian Alaphilippe (Quick-Step Floors) at 38"
5. Mike Teunissen (Team Sunweb) at 41"
6. Tim Wellens (Lotto Soudal) at 41"
7. Roman Kreuziger (Mitchelton-Scott) at 41"
8. Heinrich Haussler (Bahrain-Merida) at 43"
9. Felix Grossschartner (Bora-Hansgrohe) at 43"
10. Ion Izagirre (Bahrain-Merida) at 43"

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