Van Avermaet claims stage three and overall lead

The Belgian held off Peter Sagan (Tinkoff-Saxo) and Zdenek Stybar (Etixx-QuickStep) in the final sprint.

The win sees Van Avermaet take the overall lead.

Van Avermaet made his winning attack with 200m left of the race and the win puts him ahead of Peter Sagan and Andriano Malori (Movistar).

“I looked at stages of Tirreno-Adriatico and was confident for the third and fourth ones,” Van Avermaet said after the race.

1. Greg Van Avermaet (Belgium / BMC Racing) 4:58:17"

2. Peter Sagan (Slovakia / Tinkoff - Saxo) ST

3. Zdenek Stybar (Czech Republic / Etixx - Quick-Step)

4. Filippo Pozzato (Italy / Lampre)

5. Fabian Cancellara (Switzerland / Trek)

6. Simon Geschke (Germany / Giant)

7. Paul Martens (Germany / LottoNL)

8. Andriy Grivko (Ukraine / Astana)

9. Rigoberto Uran (Colombia / Etixx - Quick-Step)

10. Wout Poels (Netherlands / Team Sky)

1. Greg Van Avermaet (Belgium / BMC Racing) 8:34:31"

2. Peter Sagan (Slovakia / Tinkoff - Saxo) +2"

. Adriano Malori (Italy / Movistar) +8"

4. Fabian Cancellara (Switzerland / Trek) +9"

5. Matthias Braendle (Austria / IAM Cycling) +10"

6. Ramunas Navardauskas (Lithuania / Cannondale) +13"

7. Steven Cummings (Britain / Team MTN) +14"

8. Jonathan Castroviejo (Spain / Movistar) +16"

9. Edvald Boasson Hagen (Norway / Team MTN)

10. Andriy Grivko (Ukraine / Astana) +17