Colbrelli finally bags a Dauphine Sprint on Stage 3

Sonny Colbrelli finally broke through at the Criterium du Dauphine, overhauling Alex Aranburu in an uphill sprint into Saint-Haon-le-Vieux

Austrian Lukas Postlberger of Bora retained the yellow jersey ahead of Wednesday's 16.4km time trial.

Colbrelli had shown he was the strongest sprinter in the peloton in the first two stages. But on both days, the Italian had to settle for second after his Bahrain Victorious team failed to haul in the last breakaway rider.

"After two second places, today I'm very happy for this victory," Colbrelli said at the finish.

The peloton caught the day's breakaway with 20km to go on a flat 172.2 km ride.

Despite a crash late in the stage, the pack was altogether as it hit the final uphill drag. Former world champion Mads Pedersen (Trek-Segafredo) crashed hard and had to quit the race.

Aranburu of Astana surged clear with 300m to go but Colbrelli reacted at once and gave chase.

In a slow-motion battle up the slope, the Italian drew level with 100m to go and gradually pulled clear.

American Brandon McNulty of UAE came through to grab third.

"After two second places, I really wanted to take a beautiful win. I can thank my team, they worked perfectly," said Colbrelli. 

"The final kilometre was very hard. Michal Kwiatkowski pulled really hard until the last 300m. Then Alex Aranburu went very strong, I followed his wheel and it worked well for me."

Colbrelli increased his lead in the points classification and the bonus seconds he collected took him to two seconds behind Postlberger in the overall classification. 

VIDEO: 2021 Criterium du Dauphine Stage 3 Highlights

2021 Criterium du Dauphine Stage 3 Top 10

1 Sonny Colbrelli (Ita) Bahrain Victorious 03:56:36
2 Alex Aranburu Deba (Spa) Astana-Premier Tech
3 Brandon McNulty (USA) UAE Team Emirates
4 Jasper Stuyven (Bel) Trek-Segafredo
5 Wilco Kelderman (Ned) Bora-Hansgrohe
6 Clement Venturini (Fra) AG2R Citroën Team
7 Carlos Barbero (Spa) Team Qhubeka Assos
8 Clément Russo (Fra) Team Arkea-Samsic
9 Tim Wellens (Bel) Lotto Soudal
10 Kasper Asgreen (Den) Deceuninck-QuickStep

2021 Criterium du Dauphine GC after Stage 3

1 Lukas Pöstlberger (Aut) Bora-Hansgrohe 12:35:08
2 Sonny Colbrelli (Ita) Bahrain Victorious 0:00:02
3 Alex Aranburu Deba (Spa) Astana-Premier Tech 0:00:18
4 Alejandro Valverde (Spa) Movistar Team 0:00:20
5 Kasper Asgreen (Den) Deceuninck-QuickStep 0:00:23
6 Quentin Pacher (Fra) B&B Hotels p/b KTM 0:00:24
7 Patrick Konrad (Aut) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:00:24
8 Geraint Thomas (GBr) Ineos Grenadiers 0:00:24
9 Ilan Van Wilder (Bel) Team DSM 0:00:24
10 Steven Kruijswijk (Ned) Jumbo-Visma 0:00:24