Snow forces cancellation of stage 3

March 9 ^th 2016 - 16:14

Sixteen escapees
The stage started in the rain and cold without Philippe Gilbert (BMC) and Pierrick Fedrigo (Fortuneo), who both gave up sick. Later in the stage, France's Arthur Vichot (FDJ), who was dropped early on, called it quits with gastric problems. Seven riders broke clear after 10 kilometers and were joined by seven other riders two km later. The fourteen were Marcus Burghardt (BMC), Luka Pibernik (Lampre), Ben Swift (Sky), Alexis Gougeard (AG2R), Simon Yates (Orica-Greenedge), Yury Trofimov (Tinkoff), David De la Cruz (Etixx-Quick Step), Kevin Reza (FDJ), Jesus Herrada (Movistar), Alexey Lutsenko (Astana), Dylan Van Baarle (Cannondale), Laurent Didier (Trek-Segafredo), Alexandre Pichot (Direct Energie), Delio Fernandez (Delko Marseille Provence). They were chased down at kilometer 31 by Roy Curvers (Giant Alpecin) and Paul Martens (Lotto Jumbo).

Vuillermoz crashes
The lead of the 16 quickly went over four minutes, but the peloton raised the tempo to maintain them within two minutes. The break started scattering with the first climbs of the day and Gougeard, Lutsenko and Didier parted company with the group at kilometer 72. They were joined by Herrada in the descent of the Cote de Chateauneuf as the peloton split after Movistar raised the tempo. Their lead remained steady at around a minute until they received the support of Thomas De Gendt (Lotto Soudal) at kilometer 89. The snow kept falling steadily on the course and France's Alexis Vuillermoz (AG2R) was forced out of the race after crashing at kilometer 80.

Race cancelled
The conditions deteriorated and forced the race direction to stop the stage. It was first decided to try and restart it further down the road in Villié-Morgon but it also proved impossible. "The road was extremely slippery and the safety was no longer guaranteed. We are sorry. That's Paris-Nice. We promise we'll come back to Mont-Brouilly. It's a pity but the riders will start again tomorrow from Julienas," said ASO cycling director Christian Prudhomme. 

Michael Matthews (Orica Greenedge) will start the 195.5-kms fourth stage with an unchanged lead of 14 seconds over Dutchman Tom Dumoulin (Giant Alpecin).