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Tour de France 2012 stage 3

Live coverage of stage 3 at the 99th edition of the Tour de France

Peter Sagan silenced his critics Tuesday with a demonstrative win in stage 3 of the Tour de France. Sagan (Liquigas-Cannondale) powered up the final ramp to the finish, topping Edvald Boasson Hagen (Sky) and Peter Velits (Omega Pharma-Quick Step) by a handful of bike lengths. 

“It’s never easy but he clearly makes it look that way,” said Sagan’s Liquigas director Stefano Zannata. 

Fabian Cancellara (RadioShack-Nissan) finished fourth to retain his overall lead. 

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For his part, Sagan said he would shine his teammates' shoes to show how deep his appreciation was for their work in the finale.

"After my wins in California and Switzerland I hoped to come here and win a few stages," he said. "Now it's done and I'm very happy.

"Today I knew the sprinters wouldn't be there at the finish and it ended up with (Ivan) Basso and (Vincenzo) Nibali working for me!

"I would shine Basso's shoes if he asked, so I really can't say thank you enough to him."

Morkov on the move (again)

Five riders jumped away a few kilometers into the day's stage.

The five men attack at the 5km mark are:

• Andriy Grivko (UKR) Astana: 43rd overall, 38 seconds behind Cancellara
• Giovanni Bernaudeau (FRA) Europcar: 69th overall, at 1:08
• Ruben Perez (ESP) Euskaltel-Euskadi: 133rd overall, at 3:09
• Sebastien Minard (FRA) Ag2r-La Mondiale: 140th overall, at 3:39
• Michael Morkov (DEN) Saxo Bank-Tinkoff Bank: 175th overall, at 4:59 (the leader of the climbing classification)nrogersJul 3, 2012 at 6:11 AM
Mørkøv, a Tour rookie, was in the break for an astounding third day-in-a-row. The quintet built up a maximum advantage of a little more than five minutes before the race hit the final, tough 70 kilometers.

Janez Brajkovic (Astana) was among a number or riders to crash early in the stage. He returned to the race without trouble, but it was a sign of things to come. Brajkovic sought attention from the race's medical car for his left arm before rejoining the peloton.

Up ahead, the breakaway riders continued to work, but RadioShack put four riders, led by Jens Voigt and Yaroslav Popovych, on the front of the chasing bunch. From their lead of 5:05 an hour into the stage, the escapees held just over three minutes with 57km to go.

The crashes

That's when crashes and mechanicals began to pile up — and pile up big for some big-time GC contenders. Giro d'Italia winner Ryder Hesjedal was held up behind a crash on the right side of the road. After a wheel change, Garmin-Sharp sent a number of riders back for him.

"Everything (went wrong). It was crazy in the end of the race," said Garmin's Tyler Farrar, who was among the men to wait for Hesjedal. "A lot of bad luck for our team."

Six kilometers later, an even bigger crash spelled the end of the Tour for Sky's Kanstantin Sitsou, who sat on the tarmac after the pile-up cleared, a doctor attending to his left knee.

Sivtsou, one of Sky's support riders for race favorite Bradley Wiggins, was one of several riders caught up in the crash just after the Cote de l'Eperche. He became the first of the 198-strong peloton to withdraw from this year's race.

"It's a setback, but not a devastating setback," said Sky manager Dave Brailsford. "He'a a very good climber so he can do that first part in the key mountain stages. But to be honest the climbing department, as it were, is probably where we're at our strongest.
  
"It's a real shame, but not the end of the world... It's like boxing — as long as you're still fighting you can knock the other fellow out. That's the approach you've got to take to it."

Other riders be caught up in the spill included Tyler Farrar (Garmin) and Spaniard Pablo Urtasun (Euskaltel-Euskadi). The crash, which happened on a tight road, left many riders scrambling over the grass verges with their bikes in a bid to get moving.

With winds favorable for a split, Movistar, Liquigas and RadioShack manned the front of the peloton as the race split apart. With 30km to go, there were at least four distinct groups on the road.
  
On the next climb, the Mont Violette, another crash, this time near the front of the bunch, claimed Jose Joaquin Rojas (Movistar), who finished second in the green jersey points competition in 2011. 

"He has had a jinxed Tour and it all finished today," said Rojas' teammate Alejandro Valverde. "The crash happened at my side of the road, we were riding at front and I saw fast he took his hand to the shoulder, it was really bad. I can only send him my support so he gets up as fast as possible."

Training partners Simon Gerrans (Orica) and Philippe Gilbert (BMC Racing), favorites for the uphill finish in Boulogne-sur-Mer, went down as well. Gerrans and Gilbert were uninjured, but the Belgian was forced to change a damaged shoe on-the-go.

"I had to change it and all the cars were blocked behind the crash," Gilbert said. "So when I finally could change it, my race was over."

Overall contenders, including Denis Menchov (Katusha) and Christian Vande Velde (Garmin), were caught out in the crashes and both lost time at the finish. So too, was 2011 yellow jersey wearer Thomas Voeckler (Europcar).

Up front, the breakaway disintegrated on the Côte de Quéhen. Grivko set out on his own with a hard pace. Bernaudeau was the first to go, before the climb. Perez was next and when Minard finally popped, it was up to Mørkøv to claw himself onto Grivko's wheel.

The pair kept rolling, but the work of three days in the escape showed on Mørkøv. 

Behind them, the race was fluid. Groups split and merged. Vande Velde and his Garmin mate Dan Martin put in a hard chase on the rolling, winding terrain near the Opal Coast. Menchov was behind as well. Mark Cavendish (Sky) and Mark Renshaw (Rabobank) were among a group more than two minutes down on the leaders.

The finale

With 10km to go, Grivko and Mørkøv still held onto 23 seconds, but their advantage was dropping quickly, and when they arrived to the Côte du Mont Lambert, Grivko, the Ukrainian national champion left the KOM leader behind. But with 6.5km to go, the peloton snatched Grivko back and the race reset.

But not for long.

Sylvain Chavanel (Omega Pharma-Quick Step) attacked solo in the downhill run-in to a sharp, left turn and the base of the first of two sharp finish ramps. Chavanel won a French road championship here in 2011 and set out, hoping for company headed for the finish. No one would come, however, until everyone came.

"You can't take anything away from Peter Sagan. When you know he's around, you better take care," said Chavanel. "I did my best out there. I wanted to attack onto Mont Saint-Clair and that's what I did."

Chris Horner (RadioShack) and Marcus Burghardt (BMC) pulled the chasing peloton up the brief incline 5km from the line and down into town. 
So, there's a small climb, then a bit of a descent, a roller, really, and then the climb hits. It's about 11 percent or so for about 500 meters. there's a left, then a right, and 200m to the line.Matt BeaudinJul 3, 2012 at 9:15 AM
Chavanel leaned over his bars, churning out a smooth gear, and it appeared as though his brave attack may work. And it may have, if not for the roundabout between the climbs. The Frenchman overcooked the corner and nearly came to a stop before the descent to the finish ramp. 

In the peloton, Valverde also overshot the turn, going from the front of the group to the back. He would later find himself caught up in a crash.

“This is the Tour: there's much nerves, much danger," he said. "At the moment, our goal is intact. We're riding up-front, I went through a difficult day due to crashes and did not lose time. We were told before the start about a difficult turn to the right, but when we got there, the radio wasn't working properly and I didn't hear what they were telling us. I went from fourth to last into the group and, even after that, I got into the crash that happened in the final slope."

Valverde was the only rider in the bunch to miss the turn and moments later, the peloton came over the top of Chavanel, headed by the red-and-black of BMC.

"It was difficult to be honest," said Chavanel. "You just have to push onto the end."

A Vacansoleil rider went to the front low on the finish climb and pushed the pace. About 10 riders behind him, a crash erupted when an Orica man went down. That crash took down a handful of riders and delayed Sky's Bradley Wiggins and Chris Froome. They would go on to officially finish on the same time as Sagan, because the crash occurred in the final 3km.

Michael Albasini (Orica-GreenEdge) opened up heading into the final, right-hand corner and Sagan sat in his saddle and accelerated, dropping everyone as he rode the outside line through the bend. The Slovak champ stood and mashed the pedals as he topped out onto the finish straight and Cancellara, who pulled Sagan to the line on Sunday, could only watch from behind.

Sagan won handily for his second victory in three road stages at his first Tour de France. He even had time to dance a little on the bike.

"When we see the parcours, the way it went today and how team was riding, I said, 'I want to go to the finish as hard as I can and see what happens,'" said Cancellara. "Sagan was just too strong when he went. He accelerated as he does usually and he won by meters."

Boasson Hagen beat Velits in a four-man sprint for second, with Cancellara fourth and Albasini fifth.

Defending champion Cadel Evans (BMC) finished inside the top 10 in a finish that was remarkably similar to the stage he won on the race's fourth day in 2011.

"I'm feeling better each day and, as a team, we're still getting our old habits back and getting in the groove," he said. For us, Saturday is really where it's going to happen. Of course, all the days in between are important as well. In the next five or six days, there's still a lot of nervous racing to go. You don't want to take your hands off the brake levers for a moment."
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