Giant Shimano's John Degenkolb completed a hat-trick of wins in the Tour Méditerranéen when he took the victory on stage 3A this morning.
Saturday's racing was split into two stages with a 63km road race from Lambesc to Saint Rémy de Provence, coming before an afternoon individual time trial.
Degenkolb, who had won the first two stages, was in a first group in a split peloton, that had Arnaud Courteille of FDJ, Jarlinson Pantano of the Colombia team, Dimitri Le Boulch of Big Mat, Jon Dufrasne, Mickael Chérel of AG2R, with a fifty second lead on the first group, a minute on the second and 1.40 on the third after fifteen kilometres.
Halfway through and the break had dropped to three riders in Le Boulch, Dufrasne & Chérel, who were caught with eighteen kilometres remaining.
Carlos Betancur was one rider who tried to attack but Giant Shimano controlled the closing stages and it was John Degenkolb who was able to take his third win of the race ahead of Thor Hushovd (BMC) and ltaly's Sonny Colbrelli (Bardiani-CSF), followed by Pineau, Feline, Fonseca, Giraud, Planckaert, Martinez and Porsev.
Degenkolb told the Giant Shimano Press Office after the game: "Once again I have to thank my teammates for today. They have controlled the race for three days now and are still riding super strong. This afternoon I will see how I get on in the time trial, but it is more of a stage for Tobias and he's riding really strong at the moment. "Starting a season like this is a great way to thank everyone who supports us, the fans, sponsors, staff. Hopefully the wins will keep coming."