Tour de Suisse 2016: Stage 3 Winner, Overall Standings and Highlights

Peter Sagan of Tinkoff-Saxo took his second win of the 2016 Tour de Suisse on Monday, winning Stage 3 by beating Orica-GreenEdge's Michael Albasini in a thrilling finale.

The world champion attacked during the final local lap of the stage but was forced to chase after Albasini in the final kilometre, bridging the gap just in time.

The win also saw Sagan take the lead in the general classification, as Lotto-Soudal's Jurgen Roelandts finished in the chasing group. 

Here's a look at the results for Stage 3, via the event's official Twitter account:

Here are the current standings:

Pos	RIder	Time
1	Peter Sagan (SVK) Tinkoff Team	9:14:13
2	Jurgen Roelandts (BEL) Lotto Soudal	0:00:03
3	Silvan Dillier (SWI) BMC	Same Time
4	Jon Izaguirre (SPA) Movistar	0:00:13
5	Tim Wellens (BEL) Lotto Soudal	0:00:14

Recap

Monday's stage toward Rheinfelden, Switzerland, favoured the more adventurous riders, who had the perfect opportunity to grab the win via an early break or launch a late attack on the local circuit near the finish line.

CyclingNews.com shared the stage profile, as two minor bumps near the finale offered riders the chance to break from the pack late:

A group of eight riders, including Silvan Dillier (BMC) and Mathew Hayman (Orica-GreenEdge), built a lead of roughly five minutes during the first half of the stage, as the peloton took its time finding a rhythm.

Antwan Tolhoek (Roompot) focused on the mountain classification, making sure he was always near the front whenever the leading group came across a categorised climb, and he quickly built a lead in the standings.

But in the background, the peloton started to move. The short, steep climbs weighed on the leaders, whose advantage quickly vanished. By the time the leading group entered Rheinfelden for the first time, the gap was less than three minutes.

Gregory Bull/Associated Press

In the peloton, Tinkoff-Saxo pushed the tempo for Sagan, the favourite to take the stage in a bunch sprint or with a late attack. Lotto-Soudal also did their part, riding for race leader Roelandts.

Tolhoek and Bruno Pires (Roth) dropped their fellow leaders on the first climb of the local circuit, but their six companions soon recovered, and Amets Txurruka (Orica-GreenEdge) attacked from the peloton in an attempt to bridge the gap.

Tinkoff kept the pace high, however, and there was nowhere to go for Txurruka. The high pace saw the peloton break in two, but on the climb, Albasini tried his luck.

Laurent Cipriani/Associated Press

He soon found team-mate Hayman, which gave him an ally in his bid to win the stage, but in the background, Sagan shocked everyone by launching an attack of his own with 12 kilometres left to ride.

The attack resulted in another split, catching Roelandts; meanwhile, at the front, Sagan, Albasini and Dillier found one another and quickly built their lead.

The weather was making it hard on the peloton to get organised. Le Gruppetto shared this image, showing just how difficult it was to keep track:

While Sagan knew full well he had the advantage in a sprint over his companions, he kept attacking, and Dillier struggled to keep up. In the peloton, Lotto-Soudal joined forces with Etixx-Quick Step, who were riding for sprinter Fernando Gaviria.

Their chase came too late, however, as Albasini attacked inside the final kilometre and appeared to be on his way to the win. Sagan had the fresher legs, however, catching the local favourite just before the finish line.

Professional cyclist Koen de Kort of Giant-Alpecin was impressed:

Roelandts finished just three seconds behind the winner, but Sagan's win came with a 10-second bonus, pushing him past the Belgian in the standings.

Tuesday's stage will provide the sprinters with another opportunity to battle for the win, as just two categorised climbs break up an otherwise flat course.

The contenders for the general classification will have to wait to make their move until Wednesday, when the Tour de Suisse finally enters the high mountains.