Tour de France stage 3: Will Frischkorn gets on the podium
Samuel Dumoulin (Cofidis) outsprinted three breakaway mates to win stage 3 of the Tour de France on Monday, while Romain Feillu (Agritubel) took the yellow jersey from Alejandro Valverde (Caisse d’Epargne).
"It was phenomenal to win the stage today. It was something you dream about,” said Dumoulin. “The priority was to make the breakaway stay clear. We had some common interests in the breakaway and we worked well together. I knew the yellow jersey wasn't possible so I started to think about winning the stage.”
Feillu was elated, too.
“I knew that I was best-placed in the breakaway and I was really putting a lot into the break to try to make it stay away,” said Feillu. “Two hundred kilometers is a long way to attack, made for a hard day, but the group worked well together. Maybe I worked more than the others in the breakaway, but of course, I had the yellow jersey in play. That probably cost me when it came down to the sprint.
"To win the stage and the yellow jersey would have been like a dream for me, but to have the maillot jaune is great for me and the team.”
As on Sunday, Monday’s 208km race from St. Malo to Nantes kicked off with an early break initiated by one of the Americans riding for Team Garmin-Slipstream — this time, VeloNews diarist and Tour neophyte Will Frischkorn, who took off just 3km into the day’s labors.
Frischkorn was joined by Dumoulin, Feillu and Paolo Longo Borghini (Barloworld), and the foursome quickly set about putting time on the field. At the 42km mark, the break had an advantage of 10 minutes; at 70km, the margin was more than 14 minutes.
After two stages with plenty of climbing and uphill finishes, stage 3 — the final day in Brittany — was billed as one for the flatlanders before the general classification gets a good going-over during Tuesday’s 29.5km time trial through Cholet.
There were no categorized hills on the route, which headed south from the ancient fishing town of St. Malo to the sprawling industrial port city of Nante, with a pancake-flat, 10km run into the finish. There was, however, a strong wind blowing and rain falling intermittently throughout the day, with temperatures in the low 60s.
The combination of evil weather and slick roads briefly sent German national champion Fabian Wegemann (Gerolsteiner) to the deck, but he was soon back up and riding after a bike change. And yesterday’s big GC loser, one-time favorite Mauricio Soler (Barloworld) — who finished dead last at more than 10 minutes down — was gutting it out in the bunch despite that injured wrist.
“It was really hard yesterday. I couldn’t stand out of my saddle all day, so my legs were cramping up,” said Soler. “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.”
Valverde’s Caisse d’Epargne team was at the front, but decidedly not interested in chasing, this supposedly being a day for the sprinters. So as the break extended its advantage beyond the 15-minute mark, the sprinters’ teams began moving up to start taking time back. Team Columbia, Crédit Agricole, Bouygues Telecom and Liquigas all contributed riders to the chase, and with 108km to race the bunch had trimmed the break’s advantage to 11 minutes.
With 65km to race the gap was under seven minutes, with Française des Jeux joining the pursuit. Some 5km later, the race encountered a protest by French union CGT that briefly blocked the road, but police and organizers saw to it that neither hounds nor hares suffered any serious difficulties, barring the relentless rain.
Forty kilometers from the line the break clung to a lead of just over six minutes, with a chance to make it all the way to the line. Five clicks later the gap was under six minutes, and it was anybody’s guess how the finale might go.
Quick Step moved forward, hoping to retrieve the break and sling Gert Steegmans to a stage win, and with 30km to race the gap was five and a half minutes.
Five kilometers later a pileup disrupted the chase — this time it was Danish national champ Nicki Sorensen (CSC), Angel Gomez Marchante (Saunier Duval-Scott) and a Bouygues Telecom rider hitting the deck, splitting the peloton in two. Marchante later abandoned the race.
Yellow jersey Valverde made the front group, as did Cadel Evans (Silence-Lotto), Oscar Freire (Rabobank) and George Hincapie (Columbia), but Christophe Moreau (Agritubel), Denis Menchov (Rabobank) and Riccardo Ricco (Saunier Duval-Scott) were among the favorites caught in the second group.
Quick Step instantly put the hammer down, and the lead group took 15 seconds’ advantage on the second bunch. But up front, the break clung to a lead of 4:26 as they crossed the 20km-to-go point, and it was looking as though the stage winner would emerge from this group.
On paper, at least, the 27-year-old Dumoulin seemed to have the most chops among the escapees. His 12 victories included the U23 version of Paris-Nice in 2001, the overall in the 2003 Tour of Normandie, and a stage win in the 2005 Dauphiné Libéré.
But Feillu had the most to gain, sitting 58th overall at 18 seconds behind Valverde. Borghini was next best placed, in 70th at 39 seconds, with Frischkorn 122nd at 2:00 and Dumoulin 158th at 4:30.
With 10km to go, it seemed certain that the four leaders would fight it out for both the stage win and the maillot jaune, while the Valverde group was bent on putting time on the Menchov-Ricco bunch. The break had more than three minutes on the first chase, with the second group at 3:50 and the rest of the peloton at 5:05.
Three kilometers from the line the breakaways were still focused and working well together, holding 2:40 on the first chase group. Then Dumoulin jumped, chased by Frischkorn — and then Feillu took a dig with less than a kilometer to go.
Dumoulin jumped again, coming past on the inside, and just fought off Frischkorn to take the stage. Feillu finished third, good enough to take the yellow jersey from Valverde, who dropped to fourth overall at 1:45.
Still, the Caisse d'Epargne ace remains the highest placed of the Tour's yellow-jersey favorites, with Evans still just one second behind him in the overall. The big GC losers on the day were Menchov and Ricco: The Russian sits 2:30 behind Feillu in the overall, but more importantly, finished 37 seconds behind Valverde and now trails the Spaniard by 45 seconds. Ricco also lost more than half a minute, slipping to 39 seconds behind Valverde.
"For me, it's great to win a stage again," said Dumoulin. "I had a tough year last year, but now I am back in good shape and the team believed in me. The victory means a lot for the team. It shows that we're an important team. To win the stage in the first week is important both for me and the team."
As for the new race leader, he was realistic about how long he might keep the yellow jersey. Nevertheless, he remained hopeful.
“To keep the jersey? Boof – Cancellara is a great time trialist," Feillu said. "We'd love to have a road stage to try to defend it; instead, I have the time trial. I will give it all. It's a shorter course, you never know. I'm no specialist, but the maillot jaune will give me wings." —European correspondent Andrew Hood and Agence France Presse contributed to this report.
Preliminary top 10 stage results:
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 Credit Agricole
9. Robert Forster (G), Gerolsteiner
10. Mark Cavendish (G Columbia
Preliminary top 5 GC results:
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
