Liquigas rider Peter Sagan won Wednesday's third stage of Paris-Nice in Aurillac as Team Saxo Bank's Jens Voigt finished fourth to seize the race leader's yellow jersey.
Ireland's Nicholas Roche (AG2R) was to the fore in the latter stages, attacking on the final climb before finishing third behind Slovak Sagan and second-placed Spanish rider Joaquin Rodriguez (Katusha).
Roche now sits in 21st place overall, 44 seconds off the lead, while Daniel Martin is in 46th place a further 27 seconds off the pace.
Tour de France champion Alberto Contador was sixth in the stage and now lies seventh overall, 20 seconds behind, while David Millar (Team Garmin-Transitions) is the leading Briton in fourth overall and New Zealand's Simon Gerrans leads Team Sky's challenge in 24th, 47 seconds off the pace.
Because of snow at the scheduled start in St Junien, the third stage was moved by 53 kilometres to St Yrieix-la-Perche.
Yann Huguet (Skil Shimano), Nikolas Maes (Quick Step) and Jurgen Roelandts (Omega Pharma Lotto) broke clear after 33 kilometres and led by seven minutes at one stage, but they were caught in the closing stages and Sagan won the dash to the line.
Germany's Voigt was the biggest winner on the day, however, as he took the race lead when Lars Boom (Rabobank), who had begun the day in the race lead, finished 27 seconds down in 79th to fall back to sixth place overall.
