Stage 3 is the day dedicated to the puncheurs. Whether it's a stage victory or a bid to win the race overall this is the stage where the uphill riders must make the difference.
We are tuning in at the first KOM sprint of the day, because guess what, there is a lot of them today. These are the riders that will fight it out for the points:
Todome Van Bekkum Traeen Kallberg (U25 leader)
All the KOMs are category 3 except the second one day and Van Bekkum gets the 10 points here.
The peloton is just under 5 minutes behind the breakaway. The pace setting is done by Spark and Specialized.
Van Bekkum wins the 3rd KOM of the day with 20 points so far he's the leader on the road.
Van Bekkum wins another KOM sprint to extend his lead. Kallberg has been dropped from the breakaway.
It's like a broken record, but Van Bekkum adds another 6 points.
More points for Van Bekkum. He's pretty much secured having the jersey on him for tomorrow.
A slight break from the KOM battle as we have 40 km of the stage left. The peloton is just under 3 minutes behind the breakaway.
Todome breaks Van Bekkum streak to make things a bit more interesting, but the peloton is closing in now.
The penultimate climb is done with now. The peloton is down to 85 riders, but the big name riders are all still here.
Finally we get some action from the punchers as Robov attacks.
Robov goes over the top, but Pithie and Kung are chasing close behind.
Robov holds a small gap on the downhill as we see the peloton has finally fractured behind him. Pithie is the only real cobbled specialist here, but our two jersey wearers Howson and Kennett are also here.
We are under the flamme rouge and Robov still has a gap, he might have this one.
Momchil Robov has time to celebrate his victory. He was the only rider that was willing to risk with an attack and he gets rewarded!
The remaining bonus seconds at the finish go to Van der Poel and Stedman. Everyone in the 2nd group have the same time as the stage winner.
Howson and Kennett remain 1-2 in the GC with the Specialized rider now the sole points leader. Most of the cobblers are around 2-3 minutes behind the race leader. Van Bekkum is the new KOM leader and the U25 shirt goes to Bonello.
Benelux Challenge - Stage 3 
