Tour de France - Sprint king Cavendish doubles up

Eurosport - Tue, 07 Jul 13:37:00 2009

Briton Mark Cavendish won the third stage of the Tour de France as seven-times champion Lance Armstrong climbed up to third overall in the standings at La Grande Motte.

CYCLING 2009 Tour de France Cavendish - 0

Cavendish, who also won the stage on Sunday, outsprinted Norway's Thor Hushovd after a 196.5km trek from Marseille with France's Cyril Lemoine coming home third.

Swiss Fabian Cancellara of the Saxo Bank team retained the overall leader's yellow jersey and now leads German Tony Martin and American Armstrong by 33 and 40 seconds respectively.

Favourite Alberto Contador, who was trapped behind after a sharp acceleration by Cavendish's Columbia-HTC team by the end of the stage, dropped to fourth overall, 59 seconds off the pace.

With the peloton gradually closing down a four-man breakaway composed of Samuel Dumoulin (Cofidis), Ruben Perez (Euskaltel), Maxime Bouet (Agritubel) and Koen de Kort (Skil-Shimano), a bunch sprint finish seemed in store.

But the peloton split into two parts some 40km from the finish after a sudden acceleration by Columbia-HTC that surprised almost all the favourites, including Contador.

Among the top contenders, only Armstrong, back in the saddle after 3 1/2 years in retirement, was in the front group of some 28 riders who caught the four early fugitives.

Columbia, with no fewer than eight men inside the lead group, instantly pulled as hard as they could, and were joined by five of Skil-Shimano's riders, along with the Milram duo of Linus Gerdemann and Fabian Wegmann.

Armstrong did not help Columbia widen the gap, staying in the middle of the small pack with team mates Haimar Zubeldia and Yaroslav Popovych -- at first.

But with 15km remaining after discussions with team boss Johan Bruyneel, Popovych and Zubeldia started to work.

Seeing Armstrong and Cancellara further up the road, Cadel Evans' Silence-Lotto team, Andy Schleck's Saxo Bank squad and Christian Vande Velde's Garmin team took turns to try to reel the leaders back in, but they lacked the organisation of Columbia's well-oiled machine.

As the finish neared so the gap grew and the Columbia train began to move into position.

Bert Grabsch and George Hincapie, both of whom had given their all on the front for a large part of the crucial final 30 kilometres moved aside, and Mark Renshaw hit the front as they entered the final straight.

With Hushovd and Cancellara in contention, victory was by no means a formality for Cavendish, though when he moved out of the slipstream of Renshaw with 200 metres to go and surged for the line, it was clear Hushovd did not have the power to match him.

The Norwegian rolled in second with Dumoulin claiming a well-deserved fourth place, having managed to stay with the relentless pace of the lead group, despite having ridden out front for over 160 kilometres in the breakaway.

Martin and Armstrong were the day's big winners as the gap between the two groups reached 41 seconds on the finish line.

The general classification will receive a more significant shake-up in Tuesday's fourth stage, a 39-kilometre team time-trial around Montpellier.

STAGE FOUR LIVE at 1pm on British Eurosport (Sky 410 / Virgin Media 521); Also available on your PC via the Eurosport Player - click on the link under the picture to subscribe

Michael FitzGerald / Reuters

Comment 1 - 19 of 59

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  1. I am so impressed with Armstrong, guy is out of this­ planet

    From Tamerair, on Mon 6 Jul 6:16PM

  2. cav won because of the guys around him i.e. renshaw,­ rogers ect. i don't think lance has the team or the­ legs!

    From Rigmarole, on Mon 6 Jul 6:14PM

  3. The Columbia breakaway made for such an exciting race.­ I was on the edge of my seat for the last 20k. Great to­ see panic set in the pelaton with Evans shouting at­ everyone to hurry on. As usual a slick finish with­ Renshaw dropping Cav in the the right place. Well done!

    From Liz S, on Mon 6 Jul 6:12PM

  4. Hincapie said at the end that Columbia was angry with­ the other teams for not pulling, so they put the hurt­ on the them! A few managers with some egg on their­ faces.

    From ninjaskiboy, on Mon 6 Jul 6:04PM

  5. great stage,armstrong as always read the race well­ ,other GC contedrs should be happy they ve lost only 40­ seconds

    From xangtzu, on Mon 6 Jul 5:51PM

  6. Lance will win the Tour...he will not take 2nd to­ anyone, including Contador. The Tour is not won based­ on the physical but the tactical! Congrats to Popy and­ Zuby for recognizing this...mmmm the smell of eight is­ in the air my friends!

    From ragu694u, on Mon 6 Jul 5:50PM

  7. What a stage Cav gets another win and lance puts time­ into the other contenders or gc.we are only three days­ in what next .This is great

    From david.stuart37, on Mon 6 Jul 5:49PM

  8. No need to abuse someone who does'nt understand the­ sport! Inverkenny can I suggest that you look up the­ 'tour de france explained article' on the­ eurosport website and read it through. It makes the­ reason that these to chumps are abusing you a little­ clearer though still not really understandable. Chris­ Hoy is unfortunately no road cyclist, he is very simply­ the equivalent of your 100m runner to the marathon­ runners contesting the Tour.

    From James Roche, on Mon 6 Jul 5:48PM

  9. AS I recall Chris did pretty well in the Giro a few­ years back so I'm fairly cetain he would be fine as­ an also ran in the tour. He just wouldnt be anything­ else other than an also ran. Maybe a top 10 if he got­ in the right palce for a sprint but thats about it.­ Great guy, great track rider not a tour star

    From Liam L, on Mon 6 Jul 5:48PM

  10. Because Hoy is a track cyclist and wouldn't manage­ 196 Km with these guys, he's great on the track no­ doubt but not a road cyclist

    From Gavin, on Mon 6 Jul 5:45PM

  11. Chris Hoy? Don't be ridiculous. That guy­ couldn't last one stage in the tour. Don't post­ anymore here. You jsut embarrass youself and me

    From Jonathan, on Mon 6 Jul 5:43PM

  12. inverkenny wow your dumb. I cant even think of anything­ else to say to your comment its just so stupid

    From Liam L, on Mon 6 Jul 5:40PM

  13. as a leader...why would contador sit back when the­ yellow jersey is putting 40 seconds on him? armstrong­ right place, right time, as always, but right attitude­ too! i don't know about contador being a better­ athlete than lance, i am sure there is and edge there­ given the LA is 37, but hey, you can never count out­ his heart or his head, and if he has 75% left from the­ old days, i will take that over 100% of a fragile­ "leader"...time will tell, but nice gain for­ LA today :)

    From J M, on Mon 6 Jul 5:40PM
  14. Comment hidden due to its low rating. Show

    even though he tarnished his reputation forever in­ Scotland by waving a union jack, what an arse.

    From inverkenny, on Mon 6 Jul 5:39PM
  15. Comment hidden due to its low rating. Show

    is Scotlands chris hoy in this, and if so why is he not­ in the yellow jersey, cause he is the best cyclist in­ the world.

    From inverkenny, on Mon 6 Jul 5:37PM
  16. Comment hidden due to its low rating. Show

    THAR AW JANKAYS

    From JEEMS, on Mon 6 Jul 5:29PM

  17. Fantastic stage! Thanks to the Columbia team that made­ it so exciting. Watching Popovich and Zubeldia working­ against their teammate Contador - that's just­ amazing!

    From veksleri, on Mon 6 Jul 5:28PM

  18. Cav is the man!

    From R, on Mon 6 Jul 5:20PM

  19. armstrong showed winning a tour is about using your­ head and being in the right place at the right ime.­ Contador is prob a better athlete but is Armstrong­ wiser? Only time will tell at the end of the tour!

    From j, on Mon 6 Jul 5:20PM
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