2011 Tour De France Stage 3 Results: Tyler Farrar Claims Victory

Stage 3 of the 2011 sees the peleton ride north from Olonne-sur Mer across the Loire River to Redon in Brittany.

It is a stage that is depressingly flat with the course rising only 66 metres (200 feet) between its lowest and highest points and is obviously custom made for sprinters.

As an indication of how flat the stage is, the King of the Mountains point was awarded on the bridge over the Loire—the stage’s highest point.

The changed points allocation for the intermediate sprints has made the intermediate sprints a lot more interesting. Instead of a 6-4-2 allocation for the first three riders only, points are awarded down to 15th place, with 20 points available for the first rider to cross the intermediate sprint line.

The almost obligatory breakaway formed immediately with Mickael Delage (FDJ), Jose Ivan Gutierrez (Movistar), Niki Terpstra (Quickstep), Ruben Perez Moreno (Euskaltel-Euskadi) and Maxime Bouet (Ag2r) stretching their lead out to over eight minutes before taking the intermediate sprint in that order.

As the peleton started to catch the breakaway, Mark Cavendish (HTC-Highroad) showed why he is considered the world’s best sprinter bouncing away from the pack to comfortably cross the line to pick up 10 of the remaining intermediate points.

Shortly after the sprint we were treated to one of the Tour’s many quirks, as Europcar’s Anthony Charteau jumped ahead of the peleton so that he could greet his family as they rode through his home town.

It was a touching moment as he embraced his wife and children but just a little bit odd to see in the world of professional sport.

With the gap down to around two minutes, Mickael Delage sprinted to claim the single KoM point on offer today on the man-made mountain in the shadow of the Atlantic shipyards.

The breakaway was controlled with 35 km to go, but the leaders were left just off the front to discourage a late breakaway.

As expected, the stage came down to a straight sprint, with Garmin’s Tyler Farrar being successful for his first Tour stage win, ahead of Romain Feillu of Vacansoleil and Jose Joaquin Rojas of Movistar.

As he crossed the line, Farrar made a “W” with his fingers in memory of Wouter Weyland, who tragically died on Stage 3 of the Giro d’Italia earlier this year.

Mark Cavendish came home in fifth place, his team being caught out by yellow jersey holder Thor Hushovd acting as a lead out man for Farrar in an extraordinary move.

On the leaderboard, little has changed for the leading contenders, and Hushovd retains his yellow jersey, along with his slender lead over teammate David Millar and BMC’s Cadel Evans.

Tomorrow—more of the same, but with a hilltop finish at Mur de Bretagne. Look out for Philippe Gilbert to attempt to repeat his effort from stage one.

Standings after Stage 3

1. HUSHOVD Thor                  TEAM GARMIN - CERVELO      9h 46' 46"  
2. MILLAR David                     TEAM GARMIN - CERVELO        + 00' 00"
3. EVANS Cadel                     BMC RACING TEAM                   + 00' 01"
4. THOMAS Geraint                SKY PROCYCLING                     + 00' 04"
5. GERDEMANN Linus           TEAM LEOPARD-TREK               + 00' 04"
6. HAGEN Edvald Boasson     SKY PROCYCLING                     + 00' 04"
7. SCHLECK Frank                TEAM LEOPARD-TREK               + 00' 04"
8. SCHLECK Andy                 TEAM LEOPARD-TREK               + 00' 04"
9. FUGLSANG Jakob              TEAM LEOPARD-TREK              + 00' 04"
10. WIGGINS Bradley             SKY PROCYCLING                     + 00' 04"

69.

CONTADOR Alberto

SAXO BANK SUNGARD

+ 01' 42"