Laurent Jalabert won the third stage of the Paris-Nice race yesterday and took the overall-leader's white jersey. Jalabert, aiming for a repeat of his success in this race last year, escaped from the leading group on the final climb, and finished about 20 seconds clear of America's former world champion Lance Armstrong, England's Olympic champion Chris Boardman and Swiss rider Laurent Dufaux. Another former world champion, Luc Leblanc, was fifth, a few seconds further back.