Live Coverage – Stage 3 Tour de France, 2008

to VeloNews.com’s Live Coverage of the third stage of the 95th edition of the Tour de France, a 208km race from St. Malo to Nantes.

After an opening two stages with plenty of climbing and uphill finishes, stage 3 is one that will please the flatlanders. There are no categorized hills on this straightforward course that heads south from the ancient fishing town of St. Malo (population 53,000) to the sprawling industrial port city of Nantes (population 290,000). Most of the stage runs through the rolling green countryside of Brittany and past towns like Calorguen at 31.5km — where Bernard Hinault has a farm and his wife is the town mayor. Roundabouts on the flat run-in through the Nantes suburbs could cause crashes (remember Jan Ullrich’s in the 2003 time trial?) to a wide, flat finish on the Quai de la Fosse, next to the Loire River.

has been underway, for 15 minutes now and again the day has been marked by an early attack.

Just three kilometers into today’s stage, VeloNews diarist Will Frischkorn initiated an attack. He was joined by Samuel Dumoulin (Cofidis), Paolo Longo Borghini (Barloworld) and Romain Feillu (Agritubel).

At 11km the leaders have 3:05 on the main field. We can expect the bulk of today’s chase work to fall to the sprinters’ teams today as they sense an opportunity to put their fast-twitch specialists in front of a mass gallop to the line this afternoon.

Well, no matter what the outcome of today’s break, we’ll have the benefit of having a first-hand account from the man who instigated the break. Stay tuned folks, this should be fun.

Nantes has seen 30 stage finishes of the Tour, the most recent being the final time trial in 2003 that was won by David Millar (now with Garmin-Chipotle). The last time a road stage finished here, in 2000, the peloton was split by a crash on the run-in, and only 25 riders sprinted for the victory, which went to Belgian Tom Steels ahead of Germans Marcel Wust and Erik Zabel.

With Alessandro Petacchi (Milram) serving a one-year drugs suspension and Tom Boonen (Quick Step) not starting because of his cocaine positive two likely candidates for today’s stage win aren’t here.

Add to that the fact that Daniele Bennati (Liquigas) is out with tendinitis, this Tour’s first mass finish is likely to be contested by the other super sprinters Mark Cavendish (Columbia), Robert Forster (Gerolsteiner), Baden Cooke (Barloworld) and the usual suspects in Freire, McEwen and Hushovd. Don’t rule out Erik Zabel, either. He’s not been as successful as in past years, but he’s scored six points jerseys at the Tour and it’s his birthday today, so maybe he’s out to prove that a 38-year-old still has a bit of a kick.

One interesting note on McEwen. We noticed yesterday that when he had a flat along the road, he received no support from teammates in the effort to get back into the peloton. Robbie the Rocket was on his own, given that the bulk of the Silence-Lotto squad has been focused on keeping the team’s GC rider, Cadel Evans, in position. That said, McEwen is fully capable of poaching a ride on some other team’s lead out train. Despite a lack of team support, McEwen shouldn’t be written off.

It’s raining at the finish in Nantes and, despite a moderately sunny start in Saint Malo, it looks like the weather is turning bad out on the road. Riders in the break and in the peloton are getting their rain capes.

At 17km, the leaders are now 5:05 ahead of the field. We wonder just how far the peloton will allow these fellas to get away before ramping up the case.

If you have comments, questions or complaints, feel free to hit the “Contact our Editors” link below the Live Update Window. We’ll try to personally answer as many as time permits and we’ll even post a few during today’s coverage.

Out on the road, our leaders have crossed through the day’s first sprint mark, without contesting it. For the record:
1. Samuel Dumoulin (Cofidis), 6points
2. Paolo Longo Borghini (Barloworld), 4pts
3. Roman Feillu (Agributel), 2pts

Do recall that the Tour this year is not offering time bonuses, neither at the finish, nor at the intermediate sprints, so only points – and a bit of cash – are on the line.

At 25km, our leaders have bumped their lead up to 7:00. The pace is holding at around 42kph.

Reader Tania W reminds us that there is another sprinter to consider, that being Robbie Hunter, the Barloworld man, who just happens to be from South Africa, just like Tania.

Reader London writes

Would you explain why there are no time bonuses? No prologue, no time bonuses? The only thing they’ve cut that makes sense is doping… and we don’t yet know if that has even succeeded.

Organizers do, of course, reserve the right to set up the race as they see fit. We suspect the absence of the prologue is at least a contributing factor in deciding to abandon time bonuses. Normally in a Tour with a prologue, GC is established, with at least a few seconds separating riders, but you’ll notice a large portion of the field finished within a second of the winner. Time bonuses would keep the jersey jumping around for a few days. It also allows early breaks to develop without putting undue pressure on the yellow jersey team to chase every time a small gap develops in advance of intermediate sprint. The argument in favor of dispensing with time bonuses may just be that the organizers want to count actual racing time, without the artificial disruption of 20-second bonuses at the finish and those six-second prizes out on the road. Good, bad or indifferent, it does change the dynamics of the race.

our leaders — Will Frischkorn (Garmin-Chipotle), Samuel Dumoulin (Cofidis), Paolo Longo Borghini (Barloworld) and Romain Feillu (Agritubel) – are now 8:25 ahead of the main field. They are doing serious work out there, but if any of them expects to win, they’ll need to extend that by at least another 10 minutes… and then hope for luck.

are at the base of the (unrated) climb that kicks in at 37km. There is another intermediate sprint atop this little rise, but no KOM points on the line today. That means Thomas Voeckler can relax today, assured of spending another day in the polka-dot jersey.

The leaders are at 42km and the gap is now at 10:00.

Well, we know Will Frischkorn from his regular contributions to VeloNews.com. The others in the break are Samuel Dumoulin (Cofidis) is a 27-year-old from Venissieu in France. He won the U23 version of Paris-Nice in 2001 and has scored the overall title in the Tour of Normandie (2003), a couple of stage victories in the 2003 Tour de l’Avenir and a stage win in the Dauphine (2005).

Paolo Longo Borghini (Barloworld) is also 27 and from Asiago, Italy. He won the Nobili Rubinetterie in 2006 and won the GP Denain-Porte du Hainaut this year.

Romain Feillu (Agritubel) is the youngest in the bunch. He’s 24 and has been a pro since 2005. He won last year’s Tour of Britain, Paris-Bouges and the Circuit de l’Aulne. He has one win this year, defending his title at the Circuit de l’Aulne, a race held here in Brittany.

the leaders have extended their advantage to 11:20. The gap is growing, but not as quickly as earlier. They might be reaching the end of the leash. We’ll see how this develops.

Reader Andy writes to ask

Hey guys, thanks for the coverage. I’ve always wondered. With some teams like CSC, Garmin, and Columbia who race both stateside and in Europe, do they have a fleet of team cars and buses on each side of the drink or are they shipped over before a race?

Teams like Garmin have a fleet of vehicles in Europe. In Garmin’s case, the also maintain a smaller stock of cars and equipment in the U.S. Indeed, Garmin’s warehouse is right across the parking lot from VeloNews world HQ in Boulder, Colorado. Their European operations are based in Spain.

CSC is based in Europe, but the team leases vehicles when it puts a big effort into a race overseas, like the Tour of California. The team often ships bikes and other equipment in a shipping container. It’s an expensive proposition, but shipping cars and buses back-and-forth would be prohibitive.

From someone who apparently didn’t like our LeMond interview yesterday:

Who really cares about what LeMond thinks. Even TRek dumped him because of his big mouth. And now you idiots care about his opinion? He is a washed up big mouth loser as far as I’m concerned. He was a whiner when he was younger and hasn’t changed. Why don’t you interview people whose opinion matters. I bet you don’t have the balls to print this either.
Eric C Stacer
New Jersey

Yeah, we don’t.

The four leaders are now 11:45 ahead of the peloton.

Matt writes to say:

Another great job. Thanks again from all the riders serving in Afghanistan. I was with you for the Giro and now the Tour, although I will be heading home soon so I will be able to watch it an the tube. Keep up the good work!

You’re more than welcome, Matt. Make it home safely and we hope to hear from you when you get there, too.

The leaders’ advantage is now at 11:30, 15 seconds from the peak of 11:45 at 55km. Let’s see how this shapes up over the remaining 150 or so kilometers.

The gap is holding at 11:30.

at 65km, our escapees have upped their advantage to a hefty 13:30. It’s impressive, but keep in mind that 144km remain in today’s stage. It will take a mistake in timing and calculation on the part of the sprinters’ teams if these guys are going to win. It’s happened before, so they do have a chance… which is at least part of the reason the headbangers try this every day.

The wind is strong at the finish today. The clouds are heavy and the temps are around 16c (61f). The rain is falling and the winds are around 30kph.

our four leaders have extended their advantage to 14 minutes. There are 138km remaining in today’s stage.

Well, these boys are putting the hammer down. The gap is up to 15:08. There’s still plenty of time to reel them in, but they sure aren’t surrendering at this point.

Back in the field there has been a slight touch of wheels. Fabian Wegmann hit the deck, but he’s not hurt. Speaking of crash-related injuries, last year’s KOM, Mauricio Soler, is in the field.

is at the front of the peloton, but the team is not driving the chase. That duty will have to fall to the sprinters’ teams, which have begun to move riders up and at 82km, the gap is slowly beginning to come down. The leaders are 14:05 ahead of the peloton.

is a strong head/crosswind coming from the right side of the road. We’re seeing echelons forming, but no big, big splits in the peloton yet.

At 86km, our leaders are 13:15 ahead of the peloton. It is coming down and looks like the chase is underway. We’re looking forward to hearing Frischkorn’s take on life in the break today.

is moving some riders up front. Right now it’s Adam Hansen setting tempo, with a mix of Credit Agricole and Liquigas taking over pace-setting duties up front. The Caisse d’Epargne team is sliding back behind the fellas doing the chase work.

The rain continues. The roads are wet, but it’s not a heavy rain at the point.

The gap, with 119km to go, the leaders are 12:45 ahead of the field. The chase is ramping up. We see George Hincapie moving up. That’s a sign that Columbia is serious about trimming this gap.

the gap has been trimmed to 12:00. Our leaders – Will Frischkorn (Garmin), Samuel Dumoulin (Cofidis), Paolo Longo Borghini (Barloworld) and Romain Feillu (Agritubel) – are working together, hoping to hold off the chase.

Borghini isn’t getting much time to relax. He’s drafting off of Dumoulin, who is about a foot shorter than the Italian and not offering much relief from the wind.

The wind direction is now such that the peloton is heading into a headwind. The echoloning that we see earlier has stopped and the peloton is strung out over several hundred meters as a single unit. The speed is quite high, despite the wind.

the gap is 11:23.

with 108km remaining, the gap is 11:00. The rain has stopped, but the roads are still damp.

is sporadic. The sky is sunny now but there are plenty of clouds on the horizon.

mark of today’s stage. The gap is now 10:23 and we suspect the foursome’s chances aren’t super, but it should be fun to watch.

There is a wicked tailwind on the final 5km run into the finish at Nantes, so it’s gonna be a drag race to the line. There’s not a lot of traffic junk on the way in, but with about 300m to go, the road narrows and there’s a slight undulation in the pavement which could cause havoc with the pack at 60kph.

Robbie Hunter (Barloworld) sounded confident before the start: ‘I was fourth yesterday and I was blocked in the final 100m, so I couldn’t really open up my sprint. Today should be better. It’s going to be a lot of riders trying to get into position. I have Baden (Cooke) to help me.’

Fabian Cancellara (CSC) is sounding confident about Tuesday’s TT: ‘I really want to win. I will see the course in the morning. Our hotel is right along the course, so I will be able to ride the course in the morning, take a shower, relax and then go to the race. Who can beat me? The Scottish. Millar is really strong right now. Who else is there? Cadel, maybe Schumacher, who can be good in shorter time trials. I really want to win because there was no prologue.’

Mauricio Soler (Barloworld), who has lost more than 10 minutes since his crash on Saturday, is hoping to get through today’s stage: ‘It was really hard yesterday. I couldn’t stand out of my saddle all day, so my legs were cramping up. In the end, the pace was too fast in the end. I’m happy tomorrow is the time trial, so I hope to get through today.’

The Garmin man in the break, Will Frischkorn (Garmin-Chipotle), is impressed so far in his first two days of the Tour: “The main thing is the people along the road. It’s just incredible. I’ve never seen so many fans at a bike race before. It’s amazing to fly past at 50kph and just miss people by inches. There have been a few people that have been hit already.”

Is putting riders into the chase now, too. With 97km to go, the gap has dropped 9:44.

Well, since we posted Eric C Stacer’s note, several of you have written in expressing support for our decision to speak with Greg LeMond yesterday. It looks like the majority of you liked seeing it. Steve’s letter is a good example:

I don’t care if LeMond is personally responsible for four-dollar-a-gallon gasoline. The guy won a couple or three races in his day, and if you see him walking down the street and do not go interview him, I’ll wonder what you were thinking. In fact, if you ever by-pass any such opportunity, you’ll automatically qualify for the “Heckuva Job” award.

Great job so far. I love the logistical questions and answers.

Sorry Eric. We’ll probably talk to folks throughout the Tour. We’ll probably post your letters, too, though. Keep writing folks.

The sun is back out after a short spot of rain. The four leaders are now 9:25 ahead of the field, with 86km remaining.

writes in to say

THANKS FOR THE COVERAGE !!!!

Currently on my 3rd Iraq tour; I am pleased that I can get on the web and see high quality coverage of the Tour.

Keep up the great work and support of the Sport of Cycling.
Many thanks,
Mike

Thank you Mike. We regularly hear from service people in Iraq and Afghanistan. Indeed, one of them – Major Jason Bryan – became a regular contributor to VeloNews and VeloNews.com and a good friend of ours. We’re happy to report he’s back in the U.S., doing well and about to be deployed on a really strange mission: as a Congressional liaison for the Pentagon. No shooting, but there are risks there.

Anyway, Mike, thanks for writing in and come home safe. We hope you don’t have to go back after this one and your future ‘tours’ will involve bikes, good French wine and the peloton.

We asked Garmin boss Jonathan Vaughters about Will Frischkorn’s attack today. Was it part of a plan?

“Will just went for it,” Vaughters said. “It was kinda the plan, but kinda on his own volition. It’s good to see, but tough with this wind.”

the gap is now 9:00. We see a combination of teams at the front of the peloton, including Credit Agricole, Bouyges Telecom, Columbia and Caisse d’Epargne hovering near the front to protect the race leader.

the leading four are now 8:28 ahead of the field. The peloton is still being led by riders from Credit Agricole, Columbia, Bouyges Telecom and Liquigas.

the gap is down to 7:47. The Francaise des Jeux team is moving up to lend a hand with the chase.

almost crashed going through a turn. That poor fella has had a bad few days.

Has a couple of riders up front in the peloton. They are pushing so hard now, they are getting a gap. Are they actually trying to get away or just putting the pressure on in the main field.

is increasing. The Italian team started putting the pressure on when the road turned so that the peloton was in a crosswind. There was a small split, but the peloton is in a forest now, so the wind is having less of an effect.

With 59km to go, the gap is 6:53.

Christian Prudhomme was negotiating with a small group of protestors on the side of the road. It looks like a local union.

They are still out there, but the leaders have made it through. Let’s see what these guys do when the peloton comes through.

Prudhomme is still begging them to get off the road. Will they have an impact on the outcome??

is still talking to the protestors. The leader of the group has been given a chance to make his case in front of the camera and the Tour director is hoping that satisfies the group. We’ll see in a few minutes.

The escapees are heading down the road, maybe hoping that the protestors still feel they need to make a point.

the peloton is heading to the scene of the union protest.

Folks, the Tour is often used as a means of getting a message out. We’ve seen anti-nuclear protestors, animal rights protestors and even local cheese makers insisting on protecting the integrity of French-made cheese.

It’s all part of the race, baby.

With 52km to go, the gap is 6:50. Let’s see what happens when the peloton reaches the spot in question.

the peloton has made it through the protest. No impact on the race.

to go, the gap is 6:44. The rain is really starting to come down.

in the 6:40 to 7:00 range. The ran is still coming down and on these twisty roads four cooperating escapees might just have a chance today.

It’s an interesting stage, but we’re still betting on the catch.

Bjarne Riis said if Cancellara wins the yellow jersey in the next day or so, “we won’t obsess with defending it. We don’t want to work the guys too much too early. So far the race has gone perfect for us.”

Of course, that was this morning, before Frank Schleck crashed in the opening 10km. No word on if he’s seriously banged up.

Despite the effort up front in the peloton, the gap is still around 6:37.

the gap is at 6:11. Impressive effort from the four escapees.

The rain is coming down and the wind is still strong, now as a head/crosswind.

The four escapees are continuing to work their way down the road.

Will Frischkorn (Garmin-Chipotle) and Paolo Longo Borghini (Barloworld) are putting in a big effort and not get much of a draft from Samuel Dumoulin (Cofidis) and Romain Feillu (Agritubel), since the two French riders in the break are a bit on the wee side of the scale.

The gap is 5:35, with 30km to go.

has moved to the front of the peloton, but interestingly Columbia has drifted back.

with 28km to go, the chase is on, and if there is a catch, it’s gonna be close. We have to admit we’re cheering for Frischkorn on this one.

and the gap is 5:22. These guys have been on the attack since Frischkorn took off almost from the gun.

The big obstacle ahead is the bridge into Nantes.

the gap is 5:18.

It look like CSC’s Sorensen and Saunier Duval’s Angel Gomez have hit the deck.

riding, but the Saunier Duval (Gomez) rider is not getting up.

is driving hard at the front of the field. With the leaders now 22km from the finish, the gap is 4:48.

effort has split the field. It looks like Ricardo Ricco is not in the first half of the split.

there is a big split in the peloton. The wind is making things hard for the group trying to chase back on.

Meanwhile, the leaders are 4:14 ahead of the peloton. If they get caught, it’s going to be close.

We spotted Rabobank’s Denis Menchov in that second group, which trails the peloton by 40 seconds.

Meanwhile our four leaders are 15km from the finish and they are still 3:55 ahead.

With 14km to go, our four leaders are 3:45 ahead of the front half of the peloton.

The split in the field has left Ricco and Menchov chasing. There were some sprinters in the second bunch, too. We have yet to ID them.

and the gap to the yellow jersey group (which includes about 60 riders) is down to 3:15.

With 10km to go, the four leaders are 3:11 ahead of the first chase. The next group is at 3:50 and the rest of the peloton is at 5:05.

the four leaders still have more than three minutes.

While Frischkorn might be our sentimental fav’ we may have to put our money on Dumoulin.

the four leaders are still more than 3 minutes ahead of the first chase. They have it, unless they play stupid games over these final kilometers.

to go, we have VeloNews diarist Will Frischkorn (Garmin-Chipotle), Samuel Dumoulin (Cofidis), Paolo Longo Borghini (Barloworld) and Romain Feillu (Agritubel) off the front. One of these men will win today. After that a group of 60 riders trails by 3:00.

the four leaders are still 2:40 ahead of the yellow jersey group.

our four leaders are still cooperating and they are holding a lead of 2:40. We can expect the attacks to begin soon.

Frischkorn catches, and Romain Feillu (Agritubel) charges past.

Three riders charging, and Samuel Dumoulin (Cofidis) gets the win. It looks like Frischkorn is in second.

Romain Feillu (Agritubel) looks like he will get the jersey. He started the day only eight seconds out of first. The yellow jersey group comes in at 2:04, with McEwen and Zabel fighting out the field sprint.

some time to sort through the damage the break, the rain and the wind did to today’s overall standings. We do know that Romain Feillu (Agritubel) will be in the overall lead, but after that we still need to sort through the race picture today. We’ll see how Feillu does in tomorrow’s time trial, but he has yellow for today. Nice ride.

comes in second today. He is the one who started the day’s break, so he should get voted most aggressive. Nice ride. We’re surely looking forward to his diary today. Nice one.

Will Frischkorn was voted as the day’s most aggressive rider.

1. Samuel Dumoulin (F), Cofidis
2. William Frischkorn (USA) Garmin-Chipotle
3. Roman Feillu (F) Agritubel, all s.t.
4. Paolo Longo Borghini (I) Barloworld, at 0:14
5. Robbie McEwen (Aus) Silenc-Lotto, at 2:03
6. Erik Zabel (G), Milram
7. Oscar Freire (Sp) Rabobank
8. Thor Hushovd (N) Credit Agricole
9. Robert Forster (G), Gerolsteiner
10. Mark Cavendish (GB) Columbia

A protestor managed to get on to the podium, just before the stage presentation. Bernard Hinault, though, isn’t messing around. He looks pissed and shoves him off. Then the cops come.

Apparently this wanker forgot that Bernie doesn’t put up with that stuff. He used to charge into protest groups trying to stop the Tour with fists swinging. Wrong guy to mess with.

1. Romain Feillu (F), Agritubel
2. Paolo Longo Borghini (I), Barloworld, at 0:35
3. Will Frischkorn (USA), Garmin Chipotle, at 1:42
4. Alejandro Valverde (Spa) Caisse d’Epargne, at 1:45
5. Kim Kirchen (Lux) Columbia, at 1:46

That’s a wrap. It’s been quite a day, from the early attack by Will Frischkorn all the way to the Badger kicking butt on the presentation stage. We love the Tour.

Have a good day and we’ll be on board tomorrow with Live Coverage of the Cholet time trial, a 29.5km race against the clock. See ya.