Team Rabobank's Luis Leon Sanchez won a close sprint to the finish line in Charmey ahead of Belgian Gianni Meersman of Team Lotto-Belisol and Paolo Tiralongo of Team Astana. Team Sky's Bradley Wiggins (Great Britain) managed to hold onto the race lead by just one second, now closely tailed by today's stage winner Sanchez.

Today's bunch of hopeful breakaway riders consisted of Team Omega Pharma-Quickstep's Matt Brammeier, Leigh Howard of Team GreenEDGE, Anders Lund of Saxo Bank, Gatis Smukulis of Katusha, and Team Lotto-Belisol's Tosh van der Sande. They built up a lead of more than five minutes before a peloton lead by Team Sky felt the need to reel in the group as Howard was only 03:43 behind Wiggins in the overall classification.

Saturday's stage 4 is the longest of the 2012 Tour de Romandie. The day in the saddle will take the riders from Bulle to Sion on a 184 kilometer route, which will see the riders pass the UCI headquarters in Aigle and which sports no less than three category 1 climbs and one category 2 climb - just to keep the legs warm between the category 1 challenges.

The riders who hope to win the Tour de Romandie this year will fight for the win in tomorrow's stage unless they dare to wait for the final individual time trial taking place in Crans Montana on Sunday.

Top 25 Tour de Romandie 2012 stage 3 results:
1 Luis Leon Sanchez (Spa) Rabobank Cycling Team    03:58:29
2 Gianni Meersman (Bel) Lotto Belisol Team
3 Paolo Tiralongo (Ita) Pro Team Astana
4 Andrew Talansky (USA) Garmin-Barracuda
5 Bauke Mollema (Ned) Rabobank Cycling Team
6 Rinaldo Nocentini (Ita) AG2R La Mondiale
7 Maciej Paterski (Pol) Liquigas-Cannondale
8 Giampaolo Caruso (Ita) Katusha Team
9 Gorka Verdugo (Spa) Euskaltel - Euskadi
10 Fabrice Jeandesboz (Fra) Saur - Sojasun
11 Daniele Pietropolli (Ita) Lampre - ISD
12 Tejay Van Garderen (USA) BMC Racing Team
13 Steve Morabito (Swi) BMC Racing Team
14 Pierre Rolland (Fra) Team Europcar
15 Manuele Mori (Ita) Lampre - ISD
16 Roman Kreuziger (Cze) Pro Team Astana
17 Thomas Rohregger (Aut) Radioshack-Nissan
18 Serge Pauwels (Bel) Omega Pharma-Quickstep
19 Wilco Kelderman (Ned) Rabobank Cycling Team
20 Dario Cataldo (Ita) Omega Pharma-Quickstep
21 Jonathan Castroviejo (Spa) Movistar Team
22 Bradley Wiggins (GBr) Sky Procycling
23 Tiago Machado (Por) Radioshack-Nissan
24 Maxime Mederel (Fra) Saur - Sojasun
25 Tom Jelte Slagter (Ned) Rabobank Cycling Team

Top 25 Overall Tour de Romandie Rankings after stage 3:
1 Bradley Wiggins (GBr) Sky Procycling    12:40:31
2 Luis Leon Sanchez (Spa) Rabobank Cycling Team 0:00:01
3 Michael Rogers (Aus) Sky Procycling 0:00:07
4 Bauke Mollema (Ned) Rabobank Cycling Team 0:00:09
5 Stef Clement (Ned) Rabobank Cycling Team
6 Andrew Talansky (USA) Garmin-Barracuda 0:00:11
7 Wilco Kelderman (Ned) Rabobank Cycling Team
8 David Zabriskie (USA) Garmin-Barracuda 0:00:12
9 Simon Spilak (Slo) Katusha Team
10 Molina Ruben Plaza (Spa) Movistar Team
11 Rui Costa (Por) Movistar Team 0:00:13
12 Tiago Machado (Por) Radioshack-Nissan
13 Steve Morabito (Swi) BMC Racing Team 0:00:14
14 Jonathan Castroviejo (Spa) Movistar Team
15 Jerôme Coppel (Fra) Saur - Sojasun 0:00:15
16 Tom Jelte Slagter (Ned) Rabobank Cycling Team
17 Tejay Van Garderen (USA) BMC Racing Team
18 Vasil Kiryienka (Blr) Movistar Team 0:00:16
19 Thomas Rohregger (Aut) Radioshack-Nissan
20 Daniel Navarro (Spa) Team Saxo Bank
21 Mikel Astarloza (Spa) Euskaltel - Euskadi 0:00:18
22 Andreas Klöden (Ger) Radioshack-Nissan
23 Branislau Samoilau (Blr) Movistar Team
24 Ryder Hesjedal (Can) Garmin-Barracuda
25 Vladimir Karpets (Rus) Movistar Team 0:00:19