Key moments

Fabulous Fabian!

The longest stage of the Tour de France was under threat of being a dull affair. But then came the charge to the finish; would the four escapees contest the stage or would the sprinters get their way? Neither! Instead it was the man in the yellow jersey Fabian Cancellara who rushed into the lead in the final 600m and reached the line with an advantage over Zabel of one bike length.

The longest stage of the 2007 Tour de France – a 236.5km journey from Waregem to Compiegne – began at 12.00. There were 187 riders at the sign on; Thomas Vaitkus (DSC) abandoned after stage two because of a broken thumb sustained in a crash in Gent.
There were three intermediate sprints in stage three: in Tournai at the 33.5km mark, in Faintaine-au-Bois (the home town of former race director Jean-Marie Leblanc) at 104.5km and Achery at 167.5km. The only climb was the Cote de Bierancourt, a cat-4 ascent at the 202.5km mark. Conditions were cool with a temperature at the start of 16 degrees Celsius but the sun was out.

French Pair Escape
Vogondy (AGR) and Ladagnous (FDJ) at the 6km mark. The peloton was led by CSC and it was content to let the escape progress: at 15km the lead was 1’30; 20km – 4’10”… and, with the peloton at the 25km mark, the two escapees had a lead of 8’05”. The points for the first sprint were won by: Vogondy, Ladagnous… and Astarloza who led the peloton to the line in Tournai 11’35” behind the escapees. The average for the first hour was 40.3km/h. The maximum gain of the escape was 13’50” when the bunch was at 44km. The average speed for the second hour was just 30.7km/h.
The stage leaders didn’t seem to care much about racing: they stopped to answer the call of nature, dropped the chain into the small chainring and cruised along at a mild pace. The average speed for the third hour was 31km/h.
The points in Fontaine-au-Bois were won by: Ladagnous, Vogondy and Feillu – who jumped ahead of an apathetic peloton that was 8’08” behind at the 104.5km mark. It was a rare bout of action and elevated the Agritubel sprinter up to equal third in the points classification.

Chase Starts With 115km To Go
With 110km to go the advantage of the leaders dropped to 6’40”. The average speed for the fourth hour was 32.8km/h. The peloton didn’t really chase too hard, rather it just accepted that the two up front could be caught when the finish line was a bit closer so they just allowed them to hover around five minutes ahead. The points for the third intermediate sprint were won by Vogondy, Ladagnous and Astarloza again grabbed the two points for third. He led the peloton to the line in Achery 3’04” behind Vogondy and Ladagnous.

Auge’s Hunt For Climbing Points
The rider who was equal on points with David Millar in the climbing classification at the start of the stage attacked the peloton with 64km to go. Auge (COF) was joined by Willems (LIQ) in the move which was surely inspired by the quest to gain the polka-dot jersey. With 55km to go, the counter-attackers were 1’45” behind the stage leaders and the peloton was at 4’10”. With 52km to go, the two chasers caught the two early escapees. The peloton was at 3’20”; five kilometers later its deficit was 2’00” but Auge and co started to collaborate well and pushed the lead back up to 3’15” with 40km to go. Auge led Ladagnous and Willems over the climb and the Cofidis rider will wear the polka-dot jersey in stage four. The peloton was led by CSC and Quickstep riders on the cote de Bierancourt 3’17” behind. With 25km to go the deficit was 3’00”. Quickstep, Predictor, C.A and Lampre were doing the work at the front of the peloton. With 20km to go the four led the peloton by 2’25”; 15km – 1’50”; 10 – 1’22”…

Cancellara: A Win In Yellow!
The escapees arrived at the final kilometer with a lead of 15”. When Cancellara caught sight of the finishing structure he bolted ahead of the peloton, passed the four fugitives and held off the sprint specialists to take the win by a bike length from Zabel.
Cancellara will wear the yellow jersey in stage five.

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Matthieu Ladagnous – “It almost worked out…”

After taking off at the sixth kilometre Matthieu Ladagnous spent almost 230km in the lead of the stage. The rhythm was extremely slow for most of the day but he made the podium by being the most aggressive rider in the stage.

“During the whole day the rhythm was voluntarily slow because we didn’t want to feel the pain in our legs especially considering the finish. We knew that if we eased up the pace the peloton would do likewise. The bunch therefore played with us and we played with them. The plan was to try and reach the last 40 or 50km with a four or five minute advantage and it almost worked out.
“When Auge and Willems caught us I really started to think it was possible. I thought it could happen but then Cancellara caught us and overtook us. Being caught with 200m to go is quite frustrating.”

Stephane Auge – “I got what I wanted…!”

Disappointed two days ago with his quest to get the polka-dot jersey, the Frenchman planned a strategy to conquer it today… with success!

“It’s a satisfaction because it was one of my goals to wear the polka-dot jersey even if it’s for only one day and I lose it tomorrow, I got what I wanted. It was the goal of my day but then we realized that the stage victory could also be possible so we had to give everything we had. We missed out on stage success by just a few seconds. First of all we were a bit tired, then there was the cobblestone section at the finish that slowed us down and we also hesitated a little.”

Tom Boonen – "He was incredibly strong...!"

He might have finished third, second and fourth in the first three stages but Tom Boonen has good reason to smile even if he’s missed out on a victory himself. Like all the other sprinters he was caught off guard by Fabian Cancellara’s clever move and impressive power but ’Tomeke’ was still smiling in the green jersey when he finished.

“Fabian Cancellara took off very quickly. He’s was incredibly strong and at that moment I was already following Robbie McEwen’s wheel and riding my own race. I knew I was strong but to win the stage I had to be sure. I can’t react to every move that happens so I took my chance and followed McEwen. There was nothing I could do about Cancellara.
“Everyone was playing the usual game and we couldn’t respond – or didn’t respond – to Cancellara’s attack. No one wanted to spend their energy before the sprint.
“I had two opportunities: win stages or protecting the green jersey. If you’re lucky you can do both in one day but you’ve got to do it step by step. I missed out on the win but I’ve kept the green jersey.”

Fabian Cancellara – “You don’t program something like this happening…”

He won the prologue, kept the yellow jersey through two stages and then Fabian Cancellara seized a moment and bolted ahead of the peloton in the closing kilometer of the longest stage of the 2007 Tour. The sprinters did all they could to chase him down but the powerful Swiss motor was running on "full-gas" and a victory salute in the yellow jersey was the reward at the end of a very long day.

“I saw the cobblestones and got the win in the town where Paris-Roubaix starts while wearing the yellow jersey… what more can I say? It’s a special moment. It came at the end of a long day but when I look back, it was a perfect day. I never thought about winning the stage today; I just wanted to get to the finish line without crashing because I realized that the last one and a half kilometers were no so easy; but I was in a good position, saw the cobblestones and a few riders left some gaps so I thought, ‘I’ll go and give it full-gas and see how it goes.’
“I’ll celebrate with the whole team tonight.
“Normally I wouldn’t even think of doing something like this but the in the rush before the finish, you go on your gut feel. You don’t program something like this happening.
“The wind was stopping the whole peloton. It’s hard to ride 240 kilometers with the wind in your face for the whole day. That’s one of the reasons that the whole peloton chose to ride slower because we are not machines, we are humans… but now I’m the winner I’ve got nothing to complain about – I’m very happy.”

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