Stage 03 Summary

The 212.5km third stage of the 92nd Tour de France, from La Chataigneraie to Tours, began at 12.29pm. There were 189 riders at the sign on. It was 18 degrees Celsius in the air and 28 degrees at road level at the start. _ The stage featured three intermediate sprints in Saint-Michel-Mont-Mercure (at 29km), Coron (79km) and Les Trois-Moutiers (137km) as well as three category-four climbs, the Cote de Pouzauges (at 22km), the Cote de Chinon (at 161.5km) and the Cote de la Taconniere (at 179.5km). _ _ Bertogliati Becomes The Virtual Leader _ The first attack of the day was at the 4km mark by Gilbert (FDJ). Brochard (A2R) and Posthuma (RAB) chased but never caught Gilbert who reached a maximum gain was 50”. He was caught at the 15km mark. On the approach to the first climb Voeckler and Brochard (BTL) attacked along with Wegmann (GST). At the summit the points were won by: 1. Wegmann 3pts; 2. Voeckler 2pts; 3. Brochard. This trio waited for the peloton after the sprint at the top of the climb. At the 27km mark, Dekker (RAB) and Portal (A2R) attacked. They were caught by Bertogliati (SDV) at 28km. The points for the first sprint were won by: 1. Dekker 6pts; 2. Bertogliati 4pts; 3. Portal 2pts. The peloton was 30” behind at the 29km mark. _ The CSC team came to the front of the peloton and the advantage of the leading trio continued to grow: at 39km Dekker, Portal and Bertogliati were 2’50” ahead. The average speed for the first hour was 42.6km/h. At 43km, the peloton was at 3’25”. Bertogliati became the virtual leader of the Tour after starting the stage in 69th place 2’13” behind Zabriskie’s overall lead. At 57.5km, the escapees led the peloton by 3’55”. The points of the 2nd intermediate sprint (at 79km) were won by: 1. Portal 6pts; 2. Bertogliati 4pts; 3. Dekker 2pts. The peloton was at 4’40”. The average speed for the 2nd hour was 45.4km/h. At the feedzone the three leaders were 5’30” ahead. This was the maximum advantage for the escape. _ _ The Chase Begins _ As the peloton exited the feedzone, Quickstep and Davitamon-Lotto riders came to the front. The advantage of the escapees dropped rapidly. With 105km to go the bunch was 4’00” behind Dekker, Portal and Bertogliati. With 100km to go the lead was 3’30”. The points for the 3rd intermediate sprint were won by: 1. Bertogliati 6pts; 2. Dekker 4pts; 3. Portal 2pts. The peloton was at 2’30”. The Bouyges Telecom team came to the front of the peloton after the 3rd intermediate sprint. When the bunch was at the 142km mark, it was 1’45” behind Dekker, Portal and Bertogliati. It became apparent that the peloton would not catch the leaders before the final two climbs so Bouyges ceased their effort at the front of the pack. The lead grew again. With 60km to go, the escapees were 2’05” ahead of the peloton. The points for the 2nd climb were won by: 1. Dekker 3pts; 2. Bertogliati 2pts; 3. Portal 1pt. The peloton was behind by 1’45”. The points for the 3rd climb were won by: 1. Dekker 3pts; 2. Bertogliati 2pts; 3. Portal 1pt. Dekker will wear the polka-dot jersey in stage four. The peloton was behind by 1’15”. With 15km to go, the peloton was behind by 45”. Bertogliati gave up his effort with 12km to go and was caught by the peloton. _ _ Boonen Wins Again! _ Dekker and Portal insisted with their escape right through to the final two kilometers. They were swallowed by the peloton on the long finishing straight on the Avenue de Grammont. There was an attempt by Cancellara to escape the peloton but he too was caught by the bunch that was controlled by the FDJ team with 1,500m to go. _ Kirsipuu (C.A) led the sprint out but in the final 300m all the main candidates for a sprint win rushed forward. No one had any answer to Tom Boonen (QST) and the Belgian claimed his second successive stage win ahead of Wrolich (GST), McEwen (DVL) and O’Grady (COF). _ _ Dave Zabriskie (CSC) finished in 57th place in the middle of the peloton. The American winner of stage one will wear the yellow jersey in the team time trial of stage four.