Paris Nice 2008 stage 3

AFP report: Finland's Kjell Carlstrom, riding for the Liquigas team, won the third stage of the Paris-Nice cycling race over 165.5km from Fleurie to here on Wednesday March 13.

Kjell Carlstrom wins from Clément L'Hottelerie

France's Sylvain Chavanel of Cofidis took the leader's yellow jersey. Carlstrom, 31, pulled ahead of fellow breakaway rider Clement Lhotellerie in the final stretch to achieve the most important success of his career. French rider Pierre Rolland, 21, finished third ahead of Italian Davide Rebellin.

Carlstrom and 22-year-old Frenchman Lhotellerie led a long breakaway from the 8km mark along with Australian Bradley McGee, who fell behind on the final Croix-de-Chabouret climb. Chavanel holds a two-second lead on Dutch rider Karsten Kroon in the overall standings with Spaniard Luis Leon Sanchez three seconds off the pace.

1 Kjell Carlström (Fin) Liquigas
2 Clément L'Hottelerie (Fra) Skil-Shimano
3 Pierre Rolland (Fra) Crédit Agricole
4 Davide Rebellin (Ita) Gerolsteiner
5 Roman Kreuziger (Cze) Liquigas
6 Rinaldo Nocentini (Ita) AG2r - La Mondiale
7 Robert Gesink (Ned) Rabobank
8 Damiano Cunego (Ita) Lampre - Fondital
9 Luis Leon Sanchez Gil (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne
10 Gorka Verdugo Marcotegui (Spa) Euskaltel - Euskadi

General Classifiaction
1 Sylvain Chavanel (Fra) Cofidis - Le Crédit par Téléphone 12.37.01
2 Karsten Kroon (Ned) Team CSC 0.02
3 Luis Leon Sanchez Gil (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne 0.03
4 Gorka Verdugo Marcotegui (Spa) Euskaltel - Euskadi 0.08
5 Davide Rebellin (Ita) Gerolsteiner 0.14
6 Juan Manuel Garate (Spa) Quickstep 0.18
7 Yaroslav Popovych (Ukr) Silence - Lotto 0.19
8 Rinaldo Nocentini (Ita) AG2r - La Mondiale 0.21
9 Robert Gesink (Ned) Rabobank
10 Alexander Efimkin (Rus) Quickstep 0.34