After a strong showing on yesterday's stage 2 at Tour de Suisse, Ireland's Eddie Dunbar was in great form again today and gained some places in the general classification.
Dunbar also contested one of the intermediate sprints late on the 182km stage from Lachen to Pfaffnau, taking 2nd and gaining two bonus seconds.
And while Mark Soler (Movistar) attempted to capitalise on a group pulling clear as a result of the sprint, the reduced peloton closed it down and the front riders were re-absorbed.
Dunbar (24) ended the stage in 19th place and has moved up four places to 15th overall at 56 seconds with five stages remaining, including more climbing close to the finish tomorrow into Gstaad.
Today the bunch numbered less than 50 riders at the finish after the undulating terrain split the field to pieces, with Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin Fenix) winning the stage in a sprint to the line.
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Dunbar was especially active late in the stage, pushing hard on the front of a very strong group on the undulating terrain in the finale when he got clear with team mate Richard Carapaz.
Eventual stage winner Van der Poel was also in that move, along with world champion Julian Alaphilippe (Deceuninck-QuickStep), Michael Woods (Israel Start-Up Nation), Estaben Chaves (BikeExchange) and others.
And though they were brought back, Dunbar was among the 45-rider front group at the finish where Van der Poel won for the second day running, to take over the leader's jersey from Stefan Küng (Groupama-FDJ).
Van der Poel took the stage with a brilliant sprint from Christophe Laporte (Cofidis, Solutions Crédits) and Alaphilippe. The Dutch champion now leads by one seconds from Alaphilippe.
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