Bennett outpedals sprint stars to win stage

Ireland’s Sam Bennett stunned the top sprinters to win the third stage of the Paris-Nice race on Tuesday.

The 26-year-old Bora rider held off Norway’s Alexander Kristoff and German pair John Degenkolb and Marcel Kittel in the dash to the line at the end of the 190km stage from Chablis to Chalon-sur-Saone.

France’s Arnaud Demare came in sixth and held onto the leader’s yellow jersey.

A breakaway group comprising French pair Romain Combaud and Pierre Latour, alongside American Ben King, had come agonisingly close to battling out the victory.

But having escaped inside the first kilometre, they were caught in the very last one by a charging peloton led by the sprinters’ teams.