Peter Sagan Wins Stage 3 at Tour de Suisse: ‘It’s Nice to Be Back’

By Monica Buck

The legend is celebrating the first win in nine months and the 18th Tour de Suisse triumph overall.

Peter Sagan managed to work himself into a great position in the final kilometre and launched an early sprint. He faced tough opposition but proved to be the strongest. Bryan Coquard (Cofidis) finished second and Alexander Kristoff (Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert Matériaux) third. Kristoff immediately congratulated Sagan on the victory, the Slovak’s first for his new team TotalEnergies.

“It’s hard to get back in a racing mood after my sickness and three months without racing, I just needed some time. It’s just a stage win. I’m happy for that and happy for the team. They all did a great job pulling with another team all day. In the end, I just made it.”

It might be “just a stage win” in the overall look at Sagan’s career. However, it’s been quite some time since he was at his best. He tested positive for Covid-19 earlier this year and missed a bunch of races. Is this a sign of him truly coming back?

Asked if it was nice to return to winning, Sagan seemed to agree: “Well, it’s nice to be back.”

Stephen Williams (Bahrain-Victorious) still remains in the overall lead of the Tour de Suisse with six seconds on Andreas Kron (Lotto Soudal).

Tour de Suisse – stage three results

  1. Peter Sagan (TotalEnergies) – 4:28:38
  2. Bryan Coquard (Cofidis)
  3. Alexander Kristoff (Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert Matériaux)
  4. Tom Pidcock (Ineos Grenadiers)
  5. Alex Aranburu (Movistar)
  6. Matteo Trentin (UAE Team Emirates)
  7. Cees Bol (Team DSM)
  8. Michael Matthews (BikeExchange-Jayco)
  9. Mike Teunissen (Jumbo-Visma)
  10. Alberto Bettiol (EF Education-EasyPost)

Tour de Suisse – general classification

  1. Stephen Williams (Bahrain Victorious) – 13:32:19
  2. Andreas Kron (Lotto Soudal) + 6 seconds
  3. Andreas Leknessund (Team DSM) + 7 seconds
  4. Geraint Thomas (Ineos Grenadiers)
  5. Stefan Küng (Groupama FDJ) + 10 seconds
  6. Sepp Kuss (Jumbo Visma) + 10 seconds
  7. Marc Hirschi (UAE Team Emirates) + 10 seconds
  8. Aleksandr Vlasov (Bora-Hansgrohe) + 10 seconds
  9. Jakob Fuglsang (Israel-Premier Tech) + 10 seconds
  10. Adam Yates (Ineos Grenadiers) + 10 seconds