August 25, 2022
Tour Poitou – Charentes 2022 – Stage 3a – Nieuil-l’Espoir – Vivonne : 90,7 km
Tour Poitou-Charentes en Nouvelle-Aquitaine is a road bicycle race held annually in the former region of Poitou-Charentes (now Nouvelle-Aquitaine) France. It was first held in 1987 and since 2005 it has been organised as a 2.1 event on the UCI Europe Tour.
Marc Sarreau (AG2R Citroën) exteneded his streak of victories to three at the Tour Poitou-Charentes en Nouvelle-Aquitaine and won the short 90.7km stage 3a on Thursday morning.
Paul Penhoët (Groupama-FDJ) finished second and Axel Laurance (B&B Hotels-KTM) third in the bunch sprint in Vivonne.
Edward Theuns (Trek-Segafredo) crossed the line in fourth to maintain his position of second behind race leader Sarreau, but lost another six seconds to drop 16 behind Sarreau. Laurance moved up one spot to a tie in third with Emils Liepinš (Trek-Segafredo).
The French stage race offered a doubleheader for the third day of racing with a flat 18.3km inidividual time trial on tap in the afternoon from Smarves back to Vivonne.
The GC could see a shakeup in the afternoon, as Sarreau said he could “lose a lot of time and therefore the leader’s jersey”.
Results :