Strong Dane Bévort successfully completes solo in Tour de l'Avenir

On Monday, we saw another interesting outcome in stage two of the Tour de l'Avenir. A large breakaway group only pulled away late in the race, resulting in a sprint finish involving nineteen riders. Visma | Lease a Bike talent Elliot Rowe won that sprint, while Decomble took over the leader's jersey from his compatriot Paul Seixas.

In stage three, a sprint also seemed the most likely scenario. The 158.6-kilometer stage from Etang-sur-Arroux to Châtillon-sur-Chalaronne included four short fourth-category climbs, but was mainly very flat in the second half. The final kilometer, however, was quite steep.

After about 20 kilometers, a group of six riders broke away, but Slovenian Aljaz Turk lost contact. This resulted in an early breakaway of five riders: Denmark's Carl-Frederik Bévort, Colombia's Estiven Garcia, Poland's Party Goszczurny, America's Cole Kessler, and Sweden's Ville Merlöv were given space by the peloton.

They gained several minutes, but the five riders didn't seem to have a real chance. When the gap grew to a minute, a French trio (including Seixas!) tried to catch up. The peloton woke up, and suddenly everyone was racing at full speed.

However, the coup was short-lived. After the trio caught up, the new leading group only enjoyed a few kilometers of lead. With 60 kilometers to go, it was over again, and we saw a complete peloton once more.

A new phase began and, remarkably, Bévort and Kessler managed to break away again on the flat. This time, they were joined by Swiss rider Robin Donzé, who was announced at Tudor on Tuesday, and Slovenian Erazem Valjaven, son of former pro Tadej. Bévort quickly left them behind and went solo to the finish.