Canada's Woods moves into first place at La Route d'Occitanie in France

Defending champion Michael Woods won the third stage of La Route d'Occitanie on Saturday to move into the overall lead with one stage remaining.

The 36-year-old from Ottawa has a 10-second advantage over Spain's Cristián Rodríguez going into Sunday's finale, a 164.7-kilometre stage in southern France.

"This has already been a great race for me," Woods said. "It's a nice step in the right direction and I'm really excited for the Tour (de France) now."

The Canadian had plenty of help Saturday.

His Israel-Premier Tech team set the early pace in the peloton with Chris Froome leading the pack as it caught the remaining riders of the morning breakaway at the bottom of the final climb.

Stevie Williams then took over on the early slopes and thinned out the group significantly before teammate Domenico Pozzovivo upped the pace even further, leaving just a handful of riders in the group of the general classification contenders with 10 kilometres to go.

Woods put in several attacks with only Rodríguez able to stay in touch. Woods mounted one final charge to finish first on top of Nistos Cap Nestes.

"I’m really pleased with the result today," Woods said. "The teamwork was exceptional. Especially Stevie Williams was just amazing. I think he went extra deep for his friend Gino Mäder and it was really inspirational. The whole team rode incredibly well. I'm really proud to finish it off for the guys and to take the leader’s jersey."

Mäder died Friday, one day after crashing and falling down a ravine during a descent at the Tour de Suisse. The Swiss rider was 26.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 17, 2023