Étoile de Bessège Stage 3- 7th for Jake Stewart

Coventry’s Jake Stewart (Groupama-FDJ) was surrounded by legends of the sport as he raced to 7th on the stage and 6th on overall (leading young rider)

Étoile de Bessège Stage 3- 7th for Jake Stewart

The third stage of the Etoile de Bessèges, the most difficult stage on paper, delivered an exciting battle before being won by a solo Tim Wellens. The Lotto-Soudal rider attacked the break on a winding descent and established a small gap putting 37 seconds into a group with names such as Edward Theuns, Mads Würtz, Greg Van Avermaet, Philippe Gilbert, Cyril Barthe and our own Jake Stewart. Others in that rather tasty selection included Michal Kwiatkowski andNils Politt.

With 80km to go, a sizeable break of 20 with some big names in there establishing a two-and-a-half-minute advantage. The names included Bryan Coquard (B&B Hotels), Greg Van Avermaet (AG2R-Citroën), Edward Theuns (Trek-Segafredo), Tim Wellens and Philippe Gilbert (Lotto Soudal), Egan Bernal and Michał Kwiatkowski (Ineos Grenadiers), and Nils Politt (Bora-Hansgrohe) as well as Jake Stewart (Groupama-FDJ).

Jake’s team says it was very nice having two riders in the front group, including Jake of course. Since most of the stage difficulties were in the first part of the race, the major attacks started very early. “We knew that the race would be animated quickly” maintained FDJ’s Thierry Bricaud. “Ultimately, it was at the top of the Col des Brousses that the stage took shape.”

“The start was very tough because a lot of teams didn’t want a sprint today,” added Jake “The first 50 kilometers were at full throttle and the breakaway formed after the second big climb. I managed to take the wheels to the top and we pulled away. I didn’t have much left in my legs. For the final, I just wanted to save my energy to be able to stay with the best,” explained Jake.”

“The last climb was pretty steep and when Wellens attacked I couldn’t keep up. I just tried to hold the wheels and stay as cool as possible in case it all comes together for a sprint”. The young British rider retained his position in the chase group behind Wellens and focused on the battle for second place. “I stuck to the barriers too much in the sprint, and after such a difficult day, I didn’t have much left anyway,” commented Jake.

“Jake had taken the option of following Van Avermaet, and it was a good option except that the latter was not so good and Jake was slowed down a bit” added Thierry.

Stage 3
1. Tim Wellens
2. Edward Theuns
3. Mads Würtz Schmidt
4. Greg Van Avermaet
5. Philippe Gilbert
6. Cyril Barthe
7. Jake Stewart
8. Nils Politt
9. Michael Gogl
10. Michal Kwiatkowski

54. Connor Swift
64. Owain Doull
72. Geraint Thomas
106. Ryan Mullen
111. Dan Mclay
112. Chris Lawless
115. Ethan Hayter

Overall
1 Tim Wellens
2 Edward Theuns
3 Mads Würtz Schmidt
4 Michal Kwiatkowski
5 Philippe Gilbert
6 Jake Stewart
7 Greg Van Avermaet
8 Michael Gogl
9 Cyril Barthe
10 Stefano Oldani

Overall: Jake Stewart best young rider

Full Result: