After the protest over the conditions of the second stage of the Tour, there were some who thought that the riders would protest again over the route of the third stage from Belgium into France as the route traversed the cobbled roads of the North.
How wrong they were! It was an outstanding stage of cut and thrust racing that culminated in a win for Norwegian champion Thor Hushovd and a move up the overall for Andy Schleck and Cadel Evans - the two riders who gained most on the pre-race favorites.
Sadly, Schleck's gains that moved him to sixth overall behind his team mate, Fabian Cancellara, were tempered by the lost of his brother Frank, who crashed on the cobbled roads and retired with a suspected broken collarbone. It is a big loss to the Saxo Bank team as they bid to win the race to Paris.
Lance Armstrong, who has been looking so strong in his last Tour de France, found the cobbles turn against him and a flat tyre left him chasing his most dangerous rivals to the finish, where he finished 32nd and conceded, 2-08 to both Evans and Schleck and 55seconds to Alberto Contador. The seven-time winner is now down in 18th place and left with a lot of work to do to regain a top position.
Overnight leader was Sylvain Chavanel and his day could not have good much worse as he made at least three bike changes over the bad roads to finish 95th and almost four mins behind. Dreams of leading to the Alps last about 12 hours and he is now in fifth place, 61 seconds behindf the man he took the from on Monday, Cancellara.
Look Out for Cavendish During Stage 4
Posted by Paul Sherwen on 7/6/2010
Wow!
After three days of carnage we should be able to get back to a certain amount of normality on Stage 4. The race leaves the North of France and heads southeast toward Reims (or Rance as it is pronounced in French), which is the capital of the champagne region of France.
It is also a shorter and flatter stage for the riders with only one small climb along the 154km race route. With the time gaps now opening it should offer a good opportunity for a breakaway to get clear and establish itself.
Mark Cavendish may well spoil the party for a successful breakaway as I am sure that this is one of the stages that he has put down in his diary as one to win. If it's not too windy, then it should be a good day for the sprinters to hopefully have a clean charge to the line.
There will be a lot of riders hoping that this day will be the easiest stage of the race as predicted as there are already a lot of sore and injured riders who need to try and recover before the mountains at the weekend.
Cobble Crashes to be Followed by Intense Fourth Stage
Posted by Craig Lewis on 7/6/2010
Cobbles baby!!
The third stage didn't disappoint in any form or fashion. The cobbles completely blew apart the race, placing GC favorites in different groups spread all across the French countryside. The images on the television gave me goose bumps as I watched.
Most impressive was Andy Schleck's (Saxo-Bank) ride, even if it was set up by the crash and subsequent exit of his brother and teammate, Frank. Saxo-Bank also had its cobble specialist, Fabian Cancellara, in the group with Andy and Cancellara did what he does best and time-trialed towards the finish.
Andy finished the day as the best placed rider bidding for the overall win in Paris, and obviously thrilled to make time lost in the Prologue. Cancellara was also awarded for his efforts by regaining the yellow jersey he had lost in yesterday's stage.
The rider's of the Tour will surely be praying to the cycling gods for a relaxing day tomorrow, but knowing the Tour it will be hard to come by. If you are looking at the profile of the fourth stage and thinking to yourself "It is only 153 kilometers (95 miles), I could do that," you couldn't be more wrong.
Short stages in a race like the Tour make for an extremely stressful and intense day in the saddle for an already nerve-rattled peloton. With four epic days behind the riders, the stage should see a group of escapees and a peloton relaxing behind slowly reeling them back. The problem is that an all out war will unfold early between the teams in an attempt to get their riders into the day's breakaway. Tomorrow, everyone will have the exact same agenda.
For an attack-driven stage, the French riders should feel at home. It doesn't matter where in the world you are racing, the French love to put in an attack at any point during a race. With the riders finally on French soil for the entire day, it will add to the motivation of the riders racing on their home turf. Watch for Thomas Voeckler (Bbox-Bouygues Telecom) to put in attack after attack in hopes the peloton will ease up behind.
Another element that could come into play tomorrow is wind. If the pace is fast and the wind picks up, we could see yet another crazy stage unfolding before our eyes. Riding in the crosswinds takes great power, skill and teamwork. When watching the stage, you'll know it is windy if you see echelons (small groups of racers finding shelter from the wind from the side rather than in front of them) forming up the road. When the echelons form, the riders will quickly begin to panic and try to surround themselves with a strong team to survive.
Typically, when there are crosswinds, one or two teams assemble at the front to take advantage of the conditions. They put the hammer down, allowing only enough draft for their teammates, while the others are left struggling in the gutter. This is the move that will cause the echelons to form behind them. Last year's Tour saw HTC-Columbia perform this to perfection while setting up Mark Cavendish for the stage win.
Once the echelons form, if your team is not the one doing the damage, you have to work together with the rest of you group, just like in today's stage, and keep the gap between groups as minimal as possible. In order to do this, you have to have everyone in the group rotating through and working as a cohesive unit. A group filled with a bunch of random teams will only lose time each passing kilometer, as rider after rider will begin skipping turns in order to save energy for the finale.
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Le Tour says 8 bolts for Frank in his shoulder. Ouch!