Posted on 07/06/2006 10:52:06 PM PDT by nutmeg
Course: There's some initial fun with a visit to Camembert cheese country and a Cat. 3 hill at Vimoutiers that has a 13-percent pitch, but then the shorter (189km) stage settles into a series of long, straight, sometimes hilly highways across the open farmland of Normandy. Rolling hills precede the entry into Vitré, where the course loops around and through town to reach a slightly uphill finishing straight almost 2km long.
History: There have been three stage finishes at Vitré, all won by sprinters: Belgian Rudy Matthijs in 1985, Italian Mario Cipollini in 1995 and German Marcel Wüst in 2000. That most recent finish here saw a few still-active sprinters involved: Zabel was second, McEwen sixth and O'Grady eighth.
Favorites: Crosswinds may be a factor in splitting the peloton over the final hour of racing and could result in a different kind of finish, albeit a group sprint. This could be good for Hushovd or even Zabel, but McEwen and Boonen are again the favorites to win.
Graphics by CyclingNews.com
Geslin, Backstedt and Brard have been swallowed up by the peloton. The capture was at the 5km mark.
16:59 - Lampre Leading Peloton
The head of the peloton has turned blue and pink... the Lampre team is now in charge of the bunch which is 12" behind Geslin, Backstedt and Brard.
The Lampre and Quickstep teams are in charge of the peloton. It’s time to start to consider which sprinters are likely candidates for the win. Lampre is working for Bennati, Quickstep for Boonen, Davitamon for McEwen, Rabobank for Freire, Gerolsteinter for Wrolich, Credit Agricole for Hushovd, Liquigas for Paolini...
Boonen has Freire right on his wheel. All the usual candidates are present... 500m remain...
Robbie McEwen has won this third stage of the year. It’s his 11th Tour victory and he appeared to do it with ease...!
1 065 MC EWEN Robbie DVL AUS
2 083 BENNATI Daniele LAM ITA 00' 00"
3 101 BOONEN Tom QSI BEL 00' 00"
Boonen gains another 8 seconds on the field. His lead is chump change when they get to the mountains, though.
I'm off to lunch. When I get back, I'll post the post-stage standings and maybe some pictures.
Thanks, BaBa! Looks like McEwen will jump into 2nd place in GC w/ his win today, no other major changes anticipated...
His lead is chump change when they get to the mountains, though.
I love that picture!
Today's Stage, Top 10 Finishers:
Pos. N° Name Surname Team Nat. Gaps
1 065 MC EWEN Robbie DVL AUS
2 083 BENNATI Daniele LAM ITA 00' 00"
3 101 BOONEN Tom QSI BEL 00' 00"
4 153 EISEL Bernhard FDJ AUT 00' 00"
5 118 HUSHOVD Thor C.A NOR 00' 00"
6 056 FREIRE Oscar RAB ESP 00' 00"
7 181 ZABEL Erik MRM GER 00' 00"
8 168 PAOLINI Luca LIQ ITA 00' 00"
9 067 STEEGMANS Gert DVL BEL 00' 00"
10 125 ISASI Inaki EUS ESP 00' 00"
There are only 37 riders now within a minute of Boonen, and only 171 remaining in the race. Sacchi #187 of the Milram team did not start the race today.
Maillot Jaune (Overall Leader)
Pos. N° Name Surname Team Nat. Gaps
1 101 BOONEN Tom QSI BEL - 29:21:00
2 065 MC EWEN Robbie DVL AUS 00' 12"
3 026 ROGERS Michael TMO AUS 00' 21"
4 056 FREIRE Oscar RAB ESP 00' 25"
5 003 HINCAPIE George DSC USA 00' 25"
6 118 HUSHOVD Thor C.A NOR 00' 27"
7 009 SAVOLDELLI Paolo DSC ITA 00' 35"
8 071 LANDIS Floyd PHO USA 00' 36"
9 096 KARPETS Vladimir CEI RUS 00' 37"
10 023 HONCHAR Serhiy TMO UKR 00' 37"
11 024 KESSLER Matthias TMO GER 00' 37"
12 061 EVANS Cadel DVL AUS 00' 40"
13 031 MOREAU Christophe A2R FRA 00' 40"
14 146 MILLAR David SDV GBR 00' 41"
15 159 VAUGRENARD Benoît FDJ FRA 00' 42"
16 027 SINKEWITZ Patrik TMO GER 00' 43"
17 018 ZABRISKIE David CSC USA 00' 43"
18 021 KLÖDEN Andréas TMO GER 00' 44"
19 042 FOTHEN Marcus GST GER 00' 45"
20 035 DESSEL Cyril A2R FRA 00' 45"
Maillot Vert (Sprint Points)
Pos. N° Name Surname Team Nat. Points
1 065 MC EWEN Robbie DVL AUS 157
2 101 BOONEN Tom QSI BEL 147
3 056 FREIRE Oscar RAB ESP 135
4 083 BENNATI Daniele LAM ITA 116
5 118 HUSHOVD Thor C.A NOR 103
6 181 ZABEL Erik MRM GER 95
7 153 EISEL Bernhard FDJ AUT 93
8 168 PAOLINI Luca LIQ ITA 90
9 133 CASPER Jimmy COF FRA 77
10 125 ISASI Inaki EUS ESP 70
11 043 KOPP David GST GER 61
12 149 VENTOSO Francisco SDV ESP 61
13 094 GALVEZ Isaac CEI ESP 60
14 026 ROGERS Michael TMO AUS 51
15 003 HINCAPIE George DSC USA 44
16 013 O’GRADY Stuart CSC AUS 43
17 173 BROCHARD Laurent BTL FRA 40
18 136 MORENI Cristian COF ITA 36
19 175 GESLIN Anthony BTL FRA 33
20 048 WROLICH Peter GST AUT 32
Maillot à Pois Rouges (King of the Mountains)
Pos. N° Name Surname Team Nat. Points
1 177 PINEAU Jérôme BTL FRA 28
2 143 DE LA FUENTE David SDV ESP 17
3 047 WEGMANN Fabian GST GER 15
4 124 HERNANDEZ Aitor EUS ESP 10
5 188 SCHRÖDER Björn MRM GER 9
6 123 ETXEBARRIA Unai EUS VEN 7
7 032 ARRIETA Jose Luis A2R ESP 6
8 196 LAURENT Christophe AGR FRA 6
9 036 DUMOULIN Samuel A2R FRA 6
10 017 VOIGT Jens CSC GER 6
11 176 LEFEVRE Laurent BTL FRA 5
12 024 KESSLER Matthias TMO GER 4
13 022 GUERINI Giuseppe TMO ITA 4
14 154 GILBERT Philippe FDJ BEL 3
15 127 LOPEZ GARCIA David EUS ESP 3
16 174 FEDRIGO Pierrick BTL FRA 3
17 052 BOOGERD Michael RAB NED 2
18 004 MARTINEZ Egoi DSC ESP 2
19 179 SPRICK Matthieu BTL FRA 2
20 101 BOONEN Tom QSI BEL 1
Maillot Blanc (Overall Leader under 25)
Pos. N° Name Surname Team Nat. Gaps
1 159 VAUGRENARD Benoît FDJ FRA - 29:21:42
2 042 FOTHEN Marcus GST GER 00' 03"
3 154 GILBERT Philippe FDJ BEL 00' 14"
4 157 LÖVKVIST Thomas FDJ SWE 00' 20"
5 153 EISEL Bernhard FDJ AUT 00' 23"
6 147 RICCO Riccardo SDV ITA 00' 26"
7 106 RUJANO José QSI VEN 00' 28"
8 081 CUNEGO Damiano LAM ITA 00' 38"
9 184 GRIVKO Andriy MRM UKR 00' 38"
10 185 IGLINSKIY Maxim MRM KAZ 00' 54"
11 195 GONZALO RAMIREZ Eduardo AGR ESP 00' 55"
12 059 WEENING Pieter RAB NED 00' 58"
13 194 DUENAS NEVADO Moises AGR ESP 01' 01"
14 186 KNEES Christian MRM GER 01' 03"
15 127 LOPEZ GARCIA David EUS ESP 01' 55"
16 149 VENTOSO Francisco SDV ESP 01' 58"
17 179 SPRICK Matthieu BTL FRA 03' 19"
18 057 POSTHUMA Joost RAB NED 05' 44"
19 167 MUGERLI Matej LIQ SLO 12' 19"
20 069 VANSUMMEREN Johan DVL BEL 15' 40"
Nombres Jaune (Best Team: Top 3 Time for each stage)
Pos. Team Gaps
1 DISCOVERY CHANNEL TEAM 88:04:46 (top 3 on team combined)
2 TEAM CSC 00' 01"
3 T-MOBILE TEAM 00' 02"
4 CAISSE D’EPARGNE-ILLES BALEARS 00' 07"
5 GEROLSTEINER 00' 18"
6 PHONAK HEARING SYSTEMS 00' 26"
7 LAMPRE-FONDITAL 00' 37"
8 SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR 00' 42"
9 RABOBANK 00' 42"
10 CREDIT AGRICOLE 00' 43"
11 AG2R PREVOYANCE 00' 44"
12 FRANCAISE DES JEUX 01' 03"
13 BOUYGUES TELECOM 01' 10"
14 DAVITAMON - LOTTO 01' 12"
15 QUICK STEP - INNERGETIC 01' 15"
16 EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI 01' 27"
17 TEAM MILRAM 01' 28"
18 COFIDIS CREDIT PAR TELEPHONE 01' 40"
19 LIQUIGAS 01' 56"
20 AGRITUBEL 01' 59"
Nombres rouge (Most Combative)
#175 GESLIN Anthony BTL FRA
I love Bob Roll, but nobody "calls" the race like Phil Liggett and Paul Sherwen, IMHO...
Great pics! Thanks for posting them here.
Thanks once again, BaBaStooey! :o)
Great photo! Hmmm... I notice a couple of the French riders are named "Jimmy". And now we learn Jimmy Casper has a son named Kenny. Not typical French names... ;-)
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