Tour de France: A look into Stage 3

Stage 2 changed the complexity of the tour. What was supposed to be a quiet stage, turned into a scramble as crosswinds blew the peloton into various groups. While it benefitted Tejay van Garderen, Chris Froome and Alberto Contador in the general classifications, other favourites including Nario Quintana, Vincenzo Nibali, Pierre Rolland, Thibaut Pinot, Alejandro Valverde and Jean-Christophe Peraud lost time on their rivals.

Stage 3, starts in Belgian city of Antwerp. The length of today’s section is 159.5kms and finishes atop the Mur de Huy. Prior to the final climb of the day, there are 3 category 4 climbs. The first 2 climbs, are 2.4 and 2.1kms long respectively and have an average 5% gradient. The last 2 climbs are shorter, but having a higher gradient. The climb to the finish at Mur de Huy, despite having a 9.6% average gradient, has a 19% gradient in the final few hundred meters to the finish.

There is a small intermediate sprint, at the 128km mark. Expect the sprinters to try and get something out of it before the teams form up around their mountain and/or general classification favorites.

With 3 of the climbs occurring in the final 17kms or so, expect the teams to jostle about for positioning beforehand. There would not be a sprint finish this time however, expect the General Classification contenders and other mountain specialists to try and win this prestigious classic route.

With Nibali and Quintana and few other favourites losing time, expect them and their teams to try and take advantage of their climbs and gain time on their rivals. Do not expect Contador, Froome and van Garderen to remain idle who will aim to just match their rivals if they do not see an opportunity to gain. With some other mountain specialists like Joaquim Rodríguez and Valverde trying to win this, it seems Movistar might try to make the biggest moves, as Quintana and Valverde are excellent climbers. With a very strong lieutenant, Quintana might be hoping to gain on his rivals.

The General classification looks like

Other notable riders out of the top 20 are:

Thibaut Pinot (31   +2’07”)
Vincenzo Nibali (33   +2’09”)
Alejandro Valverde (39 +2’22”)
Jean Christophe Peraud (41   +2’25”)
Nairo Quintana (44   +2’27”)

For Stage 3 The classification jersey’s will be worn by

Maillot Juane (Yellow Jersey)
The Maillot Juane will be worn by Switzeland’s Fabian Cancellara. His 3 place finish in stage 2 gained him bonus stages to take the overall lead. This will be the 29 Day he is wearing Yellow (he holds the record for wearing the yellow jersey for the most number of days without having won the Tour). He has said, this could be his last Tour.

Maillot Vert (Green Jersey)

With a strong finish in the intermediate sprint of stage 2 and a win, André Greipel will be wearing Green. He has 55 points and will look to try and get some points at the intermediate sprint in today’s stage.

Maillot Blanc (White Jersey)

The best young rider will be worn by Giant-Alpecin’s Tom Dumoulin. The 24 year old Dutchman now sits 4 overall and rumour has it he is better than Tony Martin and Cancellara at climbing. If that is true, we might be looking at the wearer of the Yellow Jersey in stage 4

Best Team

Team BMC now wear the best team classification. They have 3 members classified in the top 10, including leader van Garderen. They will wear their numbers printed on a yellow background

Most Combative Rider

This award is decided by a jury at the end of the previous stage. The winner of this category wears his number printed on a red background. Michal Kwiatkowski of Etixx-Quick Step will be wearing this. He was in the leading groups for most of yesterday’s stage. He has also jumped from 13th to 3rd in the young riders classification.