Critérium International 2016 – Stage 3 [FULL STAGE]

March 27, 2016

Critérium International [Stage 3] – Porto-Vecchio – Col de l’Ospedale – 171,5 km

The 2016 Criterium International on the island of Corsica comprises three stages over two days, with a 90.5km opening stage in Porto-Vecchio on March 26, followed by a 7km individual time trial there the same day. The race concludes March 27 with a 171.5km final stage from Porto-Vecchio to Col de l’Ospedale.

Now in its 85th year, the Criterium International was once a serious early season goal for many teams but is now held on the same weekend as the Volta a Catalunya and Gent-Wevelgem WorldTour races.

Thibaut Pinot and his FDJ team controlled the attacks on the final stage of Criterium International to Col de l’Ospedale, ensuring the Frenchman secured a dominant overall victory in the two-day, three-stage race.

Pinot won Saturday’s seven-kilometre time trial and took his second win in two days with a strong solo attack in the final two kilometres of the 14km climb to the finish. He finished 37 seconds ahead of Pierre Latour (Ag2r-La Mondiale) in the final overall classification, with revelation Sam Oomen (Giant-Alpecin) third at 46 seconds.

FDJ rode for Pinot all day and pulled back an early break that included Thomas Voeckler (Direct Energie). They then gradually upped the pace, cracking most of their rivals including Pierre Rolland (Cannondale) and Jean-Christophe Peraud (Ag2r-La Mondiale).

Peraud’s teammate Latour attacked alone in the final five kilometres but then Pinot made his move, splitting the front group that included Oomen, Lawson Craddock (Cannondale), Alexis Vuillermoz (Ag2r-LaMondiale) and Arnold Jeannesson (Cofidis).

Pinot won alone, raising one arm in the air. Latour finished second with Jeannesson third. Craddock lost 39 seconds but fought to finish sixth on the stage. He finished sixth overall at 1:06.

Results :

1 Thibaut Pinot (Fra) FDJ 4:34:18
2 Pierre-Roger Latour (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale 0:00:07
3 Arnold Jeannesson (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits 0:00:12
4 Alexis Vuillermoz (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale 0:00:23
5 Sam Oomen (Ned) Team Giant-Alpecin 0:00:26
6 Lawson Craddock (USA) Cannondale Pro Cycling 0:00:39
7 Dominik Nerz (Ger) Bora-Argon 18 0:00:47
8 Romain Sicard (Fra) Direct Energie 0:01:22
9 Davide Villella (Ita) Cannondale Pro Cycling 0:01:44
10 Alexandre Geniez (Fra) FDJ 0:01:52

General Classification :
1 Thibaut Pinot (Fra) FDJ 6:46:34
2 Pierre-Roger Latour (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale 0:00:37
3 Sam Oomen (Ned) Team Giant-Alpecin 0:00:46
4 Arnold Jeannesson (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits 0:00:48
5 Alexis Vuillermoz (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale 0:01:02
6 Lawson Craddock (USA) Cannondale Pro Cycling 0:01:06
7 Dominik Nerz (Ger) Bora-Argon 18 0:01:47
8 Romain Sicard (Fra) Direct Energie 0:01:54
9 Alexandre Geniez (Fra) FDJ 0:02:05
10 Davide Villella (Ita) Cannondale Pro Cycling 0:02:13
11 Phillip Gaimon (USA) Cannondale Pro Cycling 0:03:06
12 Sébastien Reichenbach (Swi) FDJ 0:03:20
13 Emanuel Buchmann (Ger) Bora-Argon 18 0:03:34
14 Paul Voss (Ger) Bora-Argon 18 0:03:48
15 Lilian Calmejane (Fra) Direct Energie 0:04:02
16 Théo Vimpere (Fra) HP-BTP Auber 93 0:04:06
17 Jean-Christophe Peraud (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale 0:04:13
18 Pierrick Fedrigo (Fra) Fortuneo – Vital Concept 0:04:22
19 Fabrice Jeandesboz (Fra) Direct Energie
20 Toms Skujins (Lat) Cannondale Pro Cycling 0:04:30
21 Stefan Denifl (Aut) IAM Cycling 0:04:35
22 Chad Haga (USA) Team Giant-Alpecin 0:04:59
23 Luis Angel Mate Mardones (Spa) Cofidis, Solutions Credits 0:05:00
24 Bruno Pires (Por) Team Roth 0:05:55
25 Flavien Dassonville (Fra) HP-BTP Auber 93 0:07:40
26 Dion Smith (NZl) ONE Pro Cycling 0:07:52
27 Fredrik Ludvigsson (Swe) Team Giant-Alpecin 0:08:11
28 Pierre Rolland (Fra) Cannondale Pro Cycling 0:08:31
29 Perrig Quemeneur (Fra) Direct Energie 0:08:42
30 Delio Fernandez Cruz (Spa) Delko Marseille Provence KTM 0:08:49
31 Rémy Di Gregorio (Fra) Delko Marseille Provence KTM 0:09:43
32 Kevin Lebreton (Fra) Armee de Terre 0:09:45
33 Jerome Mainard (Fra) Armee de Terre 0:09:51
34 Francis Mourey (Fra) Fortuneo – Vital Concept 0:11:08
35 Matthias Krizek (Aut) Team Roth
36 Julien Berard (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale 0:11:21
37 Clement Chevrier (Fra) IAM Cycling 0:11:24
38 Clément Venturini (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits 0:11:27
39 Armindo Fonseca (Fra) Fortuneo – Vital Concept 0:11:31
40 Thomas Voeckler (Fra) Direct Energie 0:11:34
41 Yoann Bagot (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits 0:11:37
42 Chris Anker Sörensen (Den) Fortuneo – Vital Concept 0:11:43
43 Julien Guay (Fra) HP-BTP Auber 93 0:11:50
44 Cyril Gautier (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale 0:11:56
45 Gregor Muhlberger (Aut) Bora-Argon 18 0:12:03
46 Kevin Ledanois (Fra) Fortuneo – Vital Concept 0:12:19
47 Christian Mager (Ger) Stölting Service Group 0:12:50
48 Christophe Laborie (Fra) Delko Marseille Provence KTM 0:13:13
49 Julien El Fares (Fra) Delko Marseille Provence KTM 0:13:57
50 Thomas Rostollan (Fra) Armee de Terre 0:14:13
51 James Oram (NZl) ONE Pro Cycling 0:14:52
52 Odd Christian Eiking (Nor) FDJ 0:17:00
53 Yann Guyot (Fra) Armee de Terre 0:17:17
54 Jerome Coppel (Fra) IAM Cycling 0:17:22
55 Patrick Konrad (Aut) Bora-Argon 18 0:17:27
56 Carter Jones (USA) Team Giant-Alpecin 0:17:34
57 Richard Handley (GBr) ONE Pro Cycling 0:17:35
58 David Belda Garcia (Spa) Team Roth 0:19:09
59 Fabien Grellier (Fra) Direct Energie 0:19:53
60 Quentin Pacher (Fra) Delko Marseille Provence KTM 0:20:36
61 Jonathan Fumeaux (Swi) IAM Cycling 0:20:44