Irishman Sam Bennett has won the third stage of the Bayern Rundfahrt in Germany.
John Degenkolb of Giant Alpecin was the race leader for this third 205.9km stage from Selb to Ebern.
Five riders in Rasmus Quaade of Cult Energy, Leon Berger of the LTK Brandenburg team, Marc De Maar of Roompot, Sascha Starker of Heizomat and Simone Antonini of Wanty Groupe, got away inside the opening ten kilometres and were soon a minute ahead.
After forty four kilometres, the gap had gone out to 3.55 and was still at 3.05, some sixty kilometres later.
A group of thirty riders went after the four escapers but this group was considered too much of a threat by Degenkolb's team and they were closed down with ninety kilometres remaining.
Marc De Maar took the sprint and was up with Antonini with fifty kilometes left and a gap of 1.45.
With an average speed of 40.8km/h for the first four hours, Antonini decided to attack on his own until De Maar caught him back up.
De Maar was still clear with a lead of two minutes going into the final twenty five kilometres before he was caught and Jack Bauer took over with an eleven second lead going into the last eleven kilometres.
Bauer was caught two kilometres later and a five man attack tried to get away. It was down to three but they were caught inside the final kilometre and it came down to a sprint which Sam Bennett of Bora Argon 18, who won the fourth stage and was fourth in the second stage, won ahead of Cofidis' Nacer Bouhani and Ramunas Navardauskas of Cannondale-Garmin, followed by Sanz, Van Genechten, Marcato, Degenkolb, Laporte, Van Rensburg and Wegmann.
Bennett now leads the race.ahead of the 26.1km time trial at Einzelzeitfahren Haßfurt