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RACE REPORTS: TOUR DE FRANCE STAGE 3: CAVENDISH AGAIN, WITH A NEW MOVE
By Chris Henry in La Grande Motte
July 6, 2009
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Cavendish phones home another victory
(Photo: Roberto Bettini)
Everything
was going according to plan in stage 3 of the Tour de France Monday.
The échapée matinale- the morning breakaway- had gone, and the field
was taking an easy day on the hot roads of southern France before an
anticipated wind-up to a bunch sprint. Even the end result was as it
should be, as Mark Cavendish (Columbia-HTC) blasted away to take his
second victory ahead of Thor Hushovd (Cervélo TestTeam) and Cyril
Lemoine (Skil-Shimano). It was how we got here that shook up the
proceedings here in the Camargue region of France.
Team Columbia-HTC put on another display of unity and power to
split the field and leave some big names scratching their heads when a
well-timed attack into a crosswind left every general classification
contender except Lance Armstrong languishing behind a dangerous gap.
With 70km to ride, Columbia put nine men on the front of the race and
slowly put time into the main field which was unable to organize a
coherent chase. In the end, only Hushovd could offer a challenge to the
green jersey of Cavendish as the finish brought Columbia its just reward.
"For sure we used a lot of energy but it's paid off because we have
two stage wins so far," Cavendish said of his team's efforts. "We'll
have to see how it goes tomorrow but the other teams had to ride today
anyway because we were riding for the win and they were riding just to
save time."
Four men rode together ahead of the peloton for the majority of the
stage, a hot, steady march of 196.5 kilometers from the port city of
Marseille to La Grande Motte. The man who launched the very first
attack of the 96th Tour de France, Samuel Dumoulin (Cofidis), was back
at it again, this time latching on quickly to an acceleration by
compatriot Maxime Bouet (Agritubel). The duo was joined by Koen De
Kort, out to get some TV time for the wildcard Skil-Shimano team, and
Euskaltel's Ruben Perez Moreno.
With only 10km in their legs, the quartet had seven minutes on the
peloton. Clearly nobody was in a mood to ride any harder than
necessary, except of course for the escapees. While the main field
ambled along, the leaders built a gap of nearly thirteen minutes before
that one key moment when a seemingly normal stage gets turned on its
head.
Whatever chances the break might have had evaporated when a shift
in wind sparked a vicious attack from Team Columbia-HTC, shattering the
field and thrusting 27 riders to the finish. In that group were all
eight teammates of the previous stage winner Mark Cavendish, along with
yellow jersey Fabian Cancellara and Astana's Lance Armstrong. Notably
absent were every other major contendors for the general classification.
The likes of Sastre, the Schleck brothers, Denis Menchov, Cadel Evans,
and most conspicuously, Alberto Contador were all caught sleeping when
the move was made.
 Contador lost over 40-seconds to teammate Armstrong (Photo: Roberto Bettini)
With many clamoring over the possibility of a duel among teammates,
Armstrong's presence in the front group clearly sent a signal that he
is not in France to become a de facto support rider. Whatever Johan
Bruyneel's level of support for the Spaniard as his team leader,
Armstrong has made no effort to downplay his own ambitions and the fact
that he does not consider Contador's leadership at Astana to be a
foregone conclusion.
Armstrong knew exactly what was happening and what was at stake.
With an authoritative waving forward of his men, he threw down the
gauntlet and set Yaroslav Popovych and Haimar Zubeldia to up the tempo
and further Columbia's mission.
"I've won the Tour de France seven times, why wouldn't we ride at
the front?" he responded when asked about his decision to contribute to
the move. Was he concerned that his team's titular leader, Contador,
was doomed to finish in the second group? "Well that's not my objective, but when I turned around I was
surprised there was a split," Armstrong said. "Days like this, for good
or bad, can make a difference."
Team Saxo Bank was unprepared
for the split as well, except for its man of the moment, yellow jersey
Fabian Cancellara. The Swiss rider was attentive at the front of the
field when the move was made- a move employed successfully in races
past by team director Bjarne Riis- and saved his overall lead heading
into Tuesday's team time trial in Montpellier. Nonetheless, Cancellara
wasn't too pleased that his team missed the move, particularly given
the ambitions of the Schleck brothers for the general classification.
"Tonight I'll have to talk with the team what happened," he said
after the finish, sounding rather grim for a man who retained his
overall lead in the Tour de France. "In the end I was there, and
the rest weren't," he said simply. "It was important for me to remain
calm and think about tomorrow, and to not spend spend too much energy.
I was in communication with my teammates and the team car over the
radio to see what was happening, but clearly it wasn't good that I was
the only one up there."
Cancellara kept himself in yellow but in the overall standings it
was Armstrong's move that was most notable. The seven-time Tour winner
jumped from 10th to 3rd place, moving ahead of teammate Contador by 19
seconds. Armstrong sits 40 seconds behind Cancellara, a gap he does not
believe Astana will close in the team time trial despite the incredible
prospect that he could find himself in yellow four years after his last
Tour title.
Stage winner Cavendish, meanwhile, was exhausted but content with
the way things went. Winning the stage in the green jersey of points
leader added another impressive result to the upstart sprinter's tally.
The move wasn't premeditated, he insisted, but it once more highlighted
to collective power of the Columbia team both in the sprint and long
before.
"We didn't initiate that tactic and we didn't plan it, but it just
so happened that we were at the front when the win changed and we were
able to go at that moment," he insisted. "We didn't plan it 30 seconds
before and we didn't plan it ten minutes before. It happened at the
right time and that's when we hit it."
Stage 3: July 6, Marseille - La Grande Motte 196.5 km
1. Mark Cavendish (GBR / Columbia-HTC) 5h01min 24sec
2. Thor Hushovd (NOR / Cervélo TestTeam) @ s.t.
3. Cyril Lemoine (FRA / Skil-Shimano)
4. Samuel Dumoulin (FRA / Cofidis)
5. Jérome Pineau (FRA / Quick Step)
6. Fabian Cancellara (SWI / Saxo Bank)
7. Fabian Wegmann (GER / Milram)
8. Fumiyuki Beppu (JAP / Bbox-Bouyges Telecom)
9. Maxime Bouet (FRA / Agritubel)
10. Linus Gerdemann (GER / Milram)
Overall Classification After Stage 3
1. Fabian Cancellara (SWI / Saxo Bank) 9h50min 58sec
2. Tony Martin (GER / Team High Road-HTC @ 0:33
3. Lance Armstrong (USA / Astana) @ 0:40
4. Alberto Contador (SPA / Astana) @ 0:59
5. Bradley Wiggins (GBR / Garmin-Slipstream) @ 1:00
6. Andreas Kloden (GER / Astana) @ 1:03
7. Linus Gerdemann (GER / Milram)
8. Cadel Evans (AUS / Silence-Lotto) @ 1:04
9. Maxime Monfort (BEL / Columbia-HTC) @ 1:10
10. Levi Leipheimer (USA / Astana) @ 1:11
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