Cycling: Henderson sixth in third stage

Greg Henderson. Photo / Getty Images

New Zealand cyclist Greg Henderson finished sixth in a sprint finish to the third stage of the Paris-Nice race today, a 202km trek from Cosne-Cours-sur-Loire to Nuits-Saint-Georges in France.

Australian rider Matthew Goss took the lead in the eight-stage event after beating Heinrich Haussler and Denis Galimzyanov in a clustered sprint finish in which several cyclists, including Slovakia's Peter Sagan and Frenchman Yoann Offredo, crashed.

Goss has a lead of two seconds over previous tour leader Thomas De Gendt, of Belgium, heading into tomorrow's 191km fourth stage from Creches-sur-Saone to Belleville, while Haussler and Henderson, who won yesterday's second stage in a sprint finish, are a further 4sec back.

A repeat of Henderson's stage two triumph, when he was superbly led out by Geraint Thomas - looked on the cards at the end of the route into Nuits-Saint-Georges. Thomas again surged to the front with around 600m remaining but Katusha's Denis Galimzyanov prevented Henderson from locking onto the Welshman's wheel in what proved a tricky finale.

"Good fun but unfortunately grabbed brakes when Sagan crashed," Henderson tweeted after the race. "Lost too much speed. Congrats Gossy."

Cedric Pineau, Blel Kadri, Jussi Veikkanen, Cyril Gautier and Romain Hardy broke away early to open up a big advantage in perfect racing conditions, with mild temperatures, clear skies and little wind.

Their lead was slashed to three minutes with 50km remaining, then just over 1min with 30km to go. After a climb near the end, it was down to a handful of seconds.

French rider Thomas Voeckler was the first to attack. He overtook four of the front five but Kadri stayed with him. However, they were both overtaken with 5km remaining.

Half a dozen Liquigas-Cannondale riders then moved to the front, looking to put Sagan in an ideal place to launch an attack over the final stretch.

Misjudging a tight turn, Sagan lost control, his front wheel knocking down another rider as he fell.

- NZPA