The uphill finish of the Paris-Nice stage 3 looked like it was set up for Wout Van Aert, but the Jumbo-Visma rider had to tip his hat to Mads Pedersen and admit he was completely defeated by the Trek-Segafredo leader.

In a slightly disappointing afternoon for Jumbo-Visma, race leader Christophe Laporte crashed in the final kilometer while holding the yellow jersey.

Van Aert showed Jumbo-Visma's overall strength with a 1-2-3 finish on day one, won by Laporte and also featuring overall captain Primos Roglic. Van Aert lost second place to Fabio Jacobsen (Quick-Step Alphavinil) on stage 2, but the finish of stage 3 (2km, 3.5%) went to him.

Jacobsen and other pure sprinters were eliminated from the hilly competition before reaching the last kilometer.

Pedersen, a former world champion, closed the distance with 250 meters to go. However, he could not get close enough to Pedersen and had to settle for third place when Brian Coquard (Cofidis) passed him with a few meters to go.

"He started really early and seemed strong enough to hold on to the line. His sprint was really impressive and I didn't have enough to compete with him," Van Aert said at the finish.

"He is a strong rider and a specialist in these hard finishes. He started sprinting really, really early, and at that point I thought I had the advantage.

Van Aat took four bonus seconds and moved closer to the overall lead, but left the yellow jersey to his teammate Laporte.

Jasper Steven was leading the sprint for Pedersen when the wheels touched a few positions back and Laporte hit the deck, ripping the right side of his shorts. Laporte rejoined the race and crossed the finish line shaking his head, but because the incident occurred in the last 3 km, he was given the same time as the pack.

"It wasn't serious, but crashes are never fun," Laporte said at the finish.

"In the final we lost ourselves a bit on the descent. We found ourselves again but not in a good position. We had to take the wind in order to improve our position. We didn't have the best legs today. We put Wout at the wheel of Mads and we and he had to work hard to get back there.

Jumbo Visma still occupies first through third overall, with Laporte leading Van Aert by 1 second and Roglic by 9 seconds. On Wednesday, a 13.4 km time trial will take place.

With no rivals within 20 seconds, Roglic is in a great position. LaPorte is not vulnerable in the time trial and has won shorter time trials in the past, but Van Aert is stronger on paper.

"I'll try to be first on the team. 'We have Christophe, we have Rohan Dennis and Primoz Roglic.

Jumbo Bisma's 1-2-3 is not beyond the realm of possibility.