Garmin-Sharp's Andrew Talansky won the third stage of the Paris-Nice race.
On a nasty, wet day, stage three was a 170.2km stage from Châtel-Guyon to Brioude.
Martijn Keizer (Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team), Sébastien Minard (AG2R) , Mads Christensen (Saxo Bank) and Alexis Vuillermoz (Sojasun) were able to get away and they were in front by four minutes when Christensen won the first sprint at Joze.
Keizer took both of the climbs at Col de Potey after 85.kms and the
Cote de la Foret de la Comte ten kilometres later, to take over as leader in the the King Of The Mountains jersey, whilst Vuillermoz, who started the day eighteen seconds down on race leader Ellia Viviani was the virtual leader on the road.
Despite the wet roads, the speeds averaged 44kmph for the first two hours and the gap came down.
With 25 kilometres to go, the gap was down to 45 seconds, but as the quartet started on the second category Cote de Mauvagnat climb, they were caught.
Riders were scattered all over the road but a group containing Team Sky's Jonathan Tiernan-Locke took to the front.
Andrei Grivko was the first man to start the descent but he was brought back by Team Sky rider Kiryienka, who then crashed with 11.8kms to go.
Andriy Grivko, Romain Bardet, David Lopez Garcia, Gorka Izaguirre, Davide Malacarne, Richie Porte and Andrew Talansky, took up the front running with six to go but they were being chased by a strong group which included Nicholas Roche, Scarpone, Westra and a number of BMC riders.
The six stayed away and Andrew Talansky took the win in a time of 4.06.15, beating Malacarne and Izaquirre as his group finished six seconds ahead of the second group.
The win meant that Talansky now lead the race from Grivko and Malacarne by three seconds.
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