TDF, third stage (Cambridge-London)
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Short stage (155 km), ended in a sprint.
1. Marcel Kittel
2. Peter Sagan
3. Mark Renshaw
4. Bryan Coquard
5. Alexander Kristoff
All of the above are established sprinters. Mark Renshaw is usually Cavendish' leadout man (= last rider to stay in front of his sprinter, has to accelerate in the last few hundred meters), but since Cav' has left the TDF, Renshaw now functions as his substitute in sprints.
The man who placed fifth, Norwegian Alexander Kristoff, has won this year's Milan-San Remo, a very important Italian race.
This was quite an uneventful stage. The first breakaway was the right one : Czech Jan Barta and Frenchman Jean-Marc Bideau broke away early and stayed away until the final five kilometers. By then Barta had just left behind a very tired Bideau, but to no avail. The peloton caught up with Barta and we were in for another sprint.
André Greipel's Lotto Team had chased Barta and Bideau for the previous twenty kilometers and now didn't seem to have enough punch left to get their sprint train to function properly. Fellow German Marcel Kittel's sprint train on the other hand worked perfectly. His team mates dropped him off right where he wanted to start sprinting. Peter Sagan tried to close in on Kittel, but he didn't succeed.
This marks Kittel's second stage victory in this year's TDF. Is he the fastest sprinter? Sure looks like it.
Because Barta left Bideau behind in a desperate attempt to keep the peloton behind him he was awarded the daily prize of keenest attacker.
Since GQ leader Vincenzo Nibali finished in the first group, he was able to keep the yellow jersey in his possession. Peter Sagan still has the green jersey (best sprinter), Frenchman Cyril Lemoin was able to hold on to his coveted polka-dot jersey (best climber) as well. The white jersey for best placed rider under the age of 26 went to Frenchman Romain Bardet. Best placed team (= GQ result for the best three riders on a team) is Chris Froome's Team Sky.
Once again lots of people had gathered to catch a glimpse of the riders, unfazed by the rainy weather (which caused a few riders such as Belgian Jan Bakelants, winner of a stage in last year's TDF, and Luxemburg climber Andy Schleck to fall, fortunately without any dire consequences).
Tomorrow's stage is the first one in France. (In case you're wondering, the teams get to France by plane.) The riders will go from Le Touquet-Paris-Plage (this is not Paris btw) on the coast to Lille. These cities are both in the north of France. It's another flat stage.
Will there be another sprint? Or will one rider or a group of riders stay in front of the peloton? We'll find out tomorrow...
Watch today's sprint here.
http://www.letour.fr/le-tour/2014/us/
The above webpage also includes pictures.
You can read a few tweets by teams and individual riders at the bottom of the linked page.
http://sporza.be/cm/sporza/matchcent...nce_2014_rit_3
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