A three rider breakaway gained extra time as the result of a bizarre railroad stop situation at the 194km Tour de Suisse Stage 3, from Martigny to Aarberg, on Monday. Despite the strange circumstance, the peloton still made the catch in the final kilometer for a bunch sprint.
With less than 56km to go, most of the peloton was stopped at a railroad crossing to allow for a train to pass. However, a small portion of the peloton — multiple riders from Orica-GreenEDGE and Movistar, who were at the front when the stoppage was made — were allowed to keep going for a brief period of time.
A race commissaire made the decision to neutralize the small group several kilometers later, but by the time the rest of the peloton caught up, the break's advantage had risen to more than eight and a half minutes. Despite the strange situation, the peloton cut 1.5 minutes out of the gap in the next 10km.
Just two breakaway riders — Michael Morkov (Saxo Bank) and Guillaume Bonnafond (Ag2R - La Mondiale) — remained in the final kilometers,. Jonas Van Genechten (Lotto-Belisol) lost contact on the Frienisberg. The two riders fought to stay away until a few hundred meters left in the race. Peter Sagan (Liquigas-Cannondale) won the bunch sprint, battling it out in the last 300 meters. Baden Cooke (Orica-GreenEDGE) was 2nd, and Ben Swift (Sky ProCycling) was 3rd.
Zdenek Stybar was the top finisher for Omega Pharma - Quick-Step Cycling Team, in 26th place. Levi Leipheimer remains in 13th overall. The team will look to continue to battle for the GC in the 188km stage from Aarberg to Trimbach tomorrow.