Tour de France Stage 3 Standings and Results: Cadel Evans Comes Out on Top

The infamous “Hell of the North” cobblestones around Arenberg have delivered an unexpected early shakeup to the 2010 iteration of le Tour.

Coming hot on the tail of the two previous crash-filled stages, this was never going to be a comfortable ride.

The bone-jarring cobbles are enough of a test without nursing bumps, bruises, and cuts. Given the circumstances, it was almost inevitable that the test would prove too much for some riders.

Perhaps the biggest loser from the day is Andy Schleck. Although he finished in the star-studded leading bunch with Fabian Cancellara, Thor Hushovd, and Cadel Evans, he lost his brother Frank to a terrible fall that left him with a collarbone fractured in three places.

The loss of Frank puts a huge dent in Andy’s campaign. The combination of the brothers through the mountains is formidable.

Stage 17 of the 2009 Tour saw them dismantle the entire field, with the exception of Alberto Contador, on what was possibly the toughest stage of the tour. Saxo Bank have no-one of Franks Calibre to offer support to Andy.

For every loser, there is a winner. Cadel Evans has seemingly come of best of all the General Classification riders.

As the highest placed GC rider, he is now in the position to simply cover the other riders instead of finding himself in the position of having to make time on his rivals as has caused him problems over the last few years.

The occasionally grumpy Aussie World Champion seems much more at ease this year and with a cohesive team around him; he is well placed to look at that final spot on the podium.

He looked comfortable in amongst the leading group and wasn't troubled when cobblestone wonder, Fabian Cancellara, decided to turn up the wick with 20km to go. If he stays fit and has a little bit of luck, it just might be his year.

Contador and Lance Armstrong both lost time on stage three, Armstrong mainly as a result of a late puncture whereas Contador seemed to find the going just a little too tough.

At two minutes and one minutes behind Evans, respectively, neither is out of the running, but both have made their jobs just a little bit tougher.

The team dynamics at Astana are again interesting. After last year’s intra-team rivalry between Contador and Armstrong, you might have thought that the team would sort out the team leadership issue.

Instead, they have brought back Alexandre Vonokourov, who was caught out doping in 2007 and who firmly believes that as a Ukrainian, he should lead the Ukrainian Astana team.

Vino is a wildcard and showed at the close of stage 3 that he had no concerns about leaving his teammate behind as Vino continued to power away while Contador languished with a flat rear tyre. It will be interesting to see how they behave in the mountains.

Of the other GC contenders, no-one is out of it yet, but their task just became a little bit harder.

It just makes the upcoming stages just that little bit more interesting.