July 7, 2009
Cycling News – Cavendish Sprint his way to Stage -3
Mark Cavendish added another feather in his cap by winning the third stage of Tour de France. Cavendish finished ahead of Cervelo Test rider Thor Hushovd and Skil-Shimano rider Cyril Lemoine taking the third place. The Saxo Bank rider Fabian Cancellara managed to retain his overall lead and also the yellow jersey. Cavendish impressive effort made sure he retained the green jersey.
Stage 3 which was from Marseille to La Grande-Motte and had a total distance of 196.5 km was considered a rather flat stage but there were a few short climbs. The factor governing the race was the strong winds. Just 30 km to the finish Team Columbia HTC took advantage of the strong winds and created a breakaway from the peleton and the gap increased as much as 39 seconds. The breakaway also had the comeback man Lance Armstrong with the Astana team managed to be a part of the breakaway and improved his position from 10th to 3rd on the third day of the tour. Team Astana is now the leading team in the race and also a sure favorite to make the most out of the day four team time trial stage. As the breakaway started, there was a panic in the peleton as it could change some of the key player positions and could decide the future of the race itself.
The climber of the day went to Jussi Veikkanen of team Francaise Des Jeux and young rider white jersey went to Martin Tony of Team Columbia – HTC.
Team Astana is the current leader followed Team Columbia HTC and Team Saxo Bank in the tour after stage 3. Team Astana looks really strong and have four riders in the top ten. If things go rite for them then the yellow jersey could change hand and be with the Legend of cycling Lance Armstrong after the team trial.
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Filed Under: Cycling
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