cycling: Tour de France Stage #3: Photo finish in Angers

Cycling: Mark Cavendish (Dimension Data) also won Stage 3 of the Tour de France. The Briton prevailed extremely narrowly in the photo finish against the German André Greipel (Lotto Soudal). Peter Sagan (Tinkoff) had no trouble defending his yellow jersey on the uneventful stage.

The lonely Armindo Fonseca

At 11:55 a.m. on Monday afternoon, the drivers started into the 3st stage of the Tour de France 2016. With a length of 223,5 km, this was a slightly longer section. Drivers left Normandy on the way from Granville to Angers. Traditionally, the current wearers of the leadership jerseys lined up at the start. In yellow for the first time yesterday's stage winner Peter Sagan (Tinkoff), who, for once, was happy to take off his world champion jersey. Mark Cavendish (Dimension Data) was allowed to wear the green jersey on behalf of the Slovak. Jasper Stuyven (Trek-Segafredo) was in the points and in the white jersey he was just beaten the day before Julian Alaphilippe (Etixx Quick Step). A race similar to that of the was expected opening stage, because the route was mostly flat. Of course, the professional cyclists knew that too, so that apart from Armindo Fonseca (Fortuneo-Vital), no other rider wanted to attempt a breakaway. The 27-year-old Frenchman found himself on a solo ride with more than 200 lonely kilometers ahead of him almost from kilometer zero. The field of riders let him go immediately, because the sprinter teams can easily and easily catch a single escape later on. Fonseca therefore also won the Cote de Villedieu-les-Poeles, after 25,5 km the only mountain classification of the day.

Thomas Voeckler disturbs the coffee trip

With both Armindo Fonseca and the peloton aware of the situation, both parties slowed down. The lead of the sole leader leveled off at six minutes. With 90 km to go, Thomas Voeckler (Direct Energie) attacked and caught up with Fonseca in a very short time. The peloton immediately pushed the pace and left both riders starving on their long arms at around two to three minutes. Thomas Voeckler left the intermediate sprint to Armindo Fonseca in a very gentlemanly manner. In the peloton's sprint, Marcel Kittel (Etixx-Quick Step) prevailed ahead of Alexander Kristoff (Katusha), Peter Sagan (Tinkoff) and Mark Cavendish (Dimension Data). The teams Lotto Soudal for André Greipel and Etixx-Quick Step for Marcel Kittel replaced Tinkoff at the head of the field over the last 50 km and kept the leading duo's lead constant at less than a minute. The expected bunch sprint was inevitable. The spectators were able to look forward to the last few meters in particular, because the slightly uphill home straight was supposed to be the shortest of the entire Tour de France 2016. 300 meters from the finish, a right-hand bend had to be steered before it then accelerated towards the finish line at full speed.

Cavendish in the photo finish with victory number 28 in the Tour de France

The peloton kept visual contact with the leading duo for the last 20 km. The sprinter teams fought for the best positions, since the starting position should definitely be important today due to the right-hand bend shortly before the finish line. As Voeckler and Fonseca were caught, several sprinter platoons formed in parallel, including the direct energy platoon of France hopeful Bryan Coquard and of course the blue men of Etixx-Quick Step and the red jerseys of Katusha and Lotto Soudal. Peter Sagan, who was able to rely on the support of his teammates for almost the entire stage, had to struggle through alone once again, but was now on his own again in the finish sprint. The German Marcel Kittel fell victim to his bad position. In the end, he played no role in the fight for victory. Also because his sprint train from Etixx-Quick Step was organized far too badly. In the end he was only seventh. The fight for victory should be decided between André Greipel in the German championship jersey and Mark Cavendish in the green jersey. Greipel was in the lead for the last hundred meters, but Cavendish overtook the last few centimetres. Coquard finished third ahead of Sagan. After crossing the finish line, Greipel cheered, but both drivers didn't know who really won. Only the finish photo revealed that Cavendish was slightly ahead.

Tour de France Stage #3 – The day's result

 

Tour de France Stage #3 – The General Classification