Arnaud De Lie wins crash-marred stage 3 Etoile de Bessèges

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Arnaud De Lie (Lotto-Dstny) survived multiple attacks and climbs to take out another victory on stage 3 of Etoile de Bessèges in a much-reduced sprint.

The young Belgian extended his lead in the overall classification thanks to his speed and resistance to surges from top riders like Neilson Powless (EF-EasyPost), Dylan Teuns (Israel-Premier Tech) and Thibaut Pinot (Groupama-FDJ).

De Lie dashed away in sight of the line, waiting until the last moment in the uphill sprint to snatch the win over TotalEnergies' Valentin Ferron and Sam Watson (Groupama-FDJ) as a crash in the final took down defending champion Benjamin Thomas (Cofids) and Teuns.

The peloton arrived bruised and battered for stage 3 of the Etoile de Bessèges, missing eight riders as a result of the mass crash that left TotalEnergies' Valentin Ferron hanging off the edge of a stone bridge. Sunny skies and warm temperatures lessened the discomfort for the 169km stage around Bessèges.

The Frenchman was still in the race, but Morne Van Niekerk (St-Michel-Mavic-Auber 93), Thomas Boudat and Valentin Tabellion (Go Sport-Roubaix Lille Métropole), Lars Van den Berg (Groupama-FDJ), Nathan Vandepitte (Bingoal-WB), Aaron Verwilst (Team Flanders-Baloise), Cédric Beullens and Sébastien Grignard (Lotto-Dstny), Otto Vergaerde (Trek-Segafredo), Ben Healy (EF Education-EasyPost), Marti Marquez Roman (Equipo Kern Pharma), and Jacob Eriksson (Tudor Pro Cycling Team) did not start.

The race hit the first categorized climb, the Col des Brousses (cat. 1), almost immediately after the flag dropped, with the crest at just 14.4km into the stage. The ample points at the top towards the mountain classification inspired five riders to form the first escape.

Dries De Bondt (Alpecin-Deceuninck) was the main driver of the move, which also included Kenny Molly (Go Sport-Roubaix Lille Métropole), Thomas Champion (Cofidis), Enzo Paleni (Groupama-FDJ), Vito Braet (Team Flanders-Baloise) for the second stage in a row, and Paul Hennequin (Nice Métropole Côte d'Azur). His teammate Damien Girard spent the better part of 20km chasing and finally made contact after the climb.

Braet added to his mountains tally on the Brousses as the gap stretched out to nearly four minutes. He attacked his companions for the next KOM, the category 2 Côte Méjannes-le-Clap, and soon after, the gap began to plummet.

Braet, Grigard and Hennequin were dropped before the next ascent of the Col des Brousses, but Braet held on to score fifth over the top and grab two points.

A crash briefly disrupted the chase, with EF Education-EasyPost's Andrea Piccolo hitting the deck with Hugo Toumire (Cofidis) as the gap hovered just over one minute. Trek-Segafredo came to the fore to shut down the breakaway, with points classification leader Mads Pedersen finally making the catch with 23km to go.

A counter-attack from Alexandre Delettre (Cofids) never went far as Trek's Julien Bernard continued to set a brisk pace on the uncategorized ascent that preceded the final trip over the Brousses.

An attack from Pierre Latour (TotalEnergies) sent Pedersen out the back, but it was Neilson Powless (EF-EasyPost) who really shattered the bunch. He drew out Kévin Vauquelin (Akrea-Samsic) and, later, Thibaut Pinot (Groupama-FDJ), defending champion Benjamin Thomas (Cofidis), Ben Tulett (Ineos), Mattias Jensen (Trek-Segafredo), Dylan Teuns (Israel-Premier Tech).

The group grew with 5km to go and had a dozen seconds, but a group still containing race leader Arnaud De Lie (Lotto-Dstny) latched back on before 4km to go. With 2km to go, De Lie followed a surge from Uno-X's Anders Halland but then thought better of it, and saved his energy for his third victory of 2023.

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