Tour De France 2016: Stage 3 Results, Updated Standings and Highlights

Mark Cavendish of Dimension Data grabbed his second stage win of the 2016 Tour de France on Monday, beating Lotto Soudal's Andre Greipel in one of the closest finishes the Tour has seen in years. 

The peloton spent the bulk of the day casually chasing a breakaway before switching gears toward the end of the stage, and a bunch sprint always seemed inevitable. 

Greipel led the sprint and appeared to cross the finish line simultaneously with the Manx Missile. The organisation spent minutes staring at the photo finish before awarding the win to the latter.

The stage win was the 28th of Cavendish's career, which tied Bernard Hinault's second-best mark in Tour history. Only the legendary Eddy Merckx has more with 34.

Here's a look at the final result, via Sky Sports Cycling:

The general classification:

Recap

The stage to Angers flattened out toward the end and was expected to finish in a bunch sprint, giving the top riders a chance to rest in the peloton and recover from Stage 2.

It was also one of the longest stages of this year's Tour, which is why it came as a shock to see one man try his luck on his own early in the stage. Fortuneo-Vital Concept's Armindo Fonseca embarked on a long and lonely journey after just a few kilometers, ensuring he would pass through his hometown of Ille-et-Vilaine as the leader.

Christophe Ena/Associated Press

Fonseca needed just 25 kilometers to push his advantage to double digits, but his speed remained under an average of 40 kilometers per hour―a clear sign the peloton wasn't trying to catch him.

For the peloton, it was an ideal situation, as the ride into Brittany became far easier with a clear target to work toward. The riders soon dropped behind schedule, and many of the favourites were seen chatting away in the belly of the peloton.

Meanwhile, Fonseca kept pushing on, to the appreciation of Eurosport's Felix Lowe:

As shared by Eurosport UK, he even took the time to make a young fan's day:

With 90 kilometers left to race, Direct Energie's Thomas Voeckler finally gave chase, but Tom Dumoulin of Giant-Elpecin still wasn't impressed, per Eurosport UK:

Voeckler's jump seemed to wake up the peloton, however, as the pace increased dramatically. By the time Voeckler reached the leader, the gap to the peloton was just over two minutes. The break seemed doomed.

Kittel won the intermediate sprint for the bonus points, as the sprinters started loosening up, and with 30 kilometers left to race, the peloton's deficit had dropped to less than 30 seconds. 

The sprint trains organised once the leaders were caught, although Lotto Soudal remained absent from the front.

Peter Dejong/Associated Press

Greipel started his sprint from the front of the pack, fighting off Cavendish for as long as he could, and the two appeared to cross the finish line at the same time. A photo finish was necessary to confirm the winner, and even the initial images weren't conclusive.

Even Lotto Soudal had no idea:

Officials eventually awarded the stage win to Cavendish, who just seemed to pass Greipel as the two crossed the line. Here's a look at the photo finish, via Eurosport UK:

Per Cycling News' Sadhbh O'Shea, Cavendish explained how he experienced the sprint:

"

I normally know when I win or I lose. When I crossed the line, I kind of knew I got it today but anything can happen. I knew I had to come from behind. I wanted to be behind Greipel to launch my sprint. He took me by surprise but I'm happy I did it. My teammates were phenomenal. It's superb for Dimension Data. We came here, we made our sponsors proud.

"

Tuesday's ride to Limoges will be another one for the sprinters, before the favourites finally get to show themselves on Wednesday, when the peloton hits the Massif Central. It will be an early test for the GC hopefuls and will likely lead to the first major gaps in the standings before the Pyrenees.