Stage 3

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Stage 3

Day 3 - Obernai - Esch sur Alzette 223 km

Race Analysis

First, Di Luca dropped out by not signing in stating he had a stomach problem. If that were true, it would be a rather persistent stomach problem because he was also doing poorly in the Giro. I had pointed out that, most likely, he wouldn't make it to the first mountain stage. He didn't.

You have to watch the back of the peloton as well as the front for such things. One thing you will notice this early in the Tour is that certain riders intentionally drop off the peloton late in stages and lose considerable time to increase their chances of getting in a controlling break. The less of a threat they are on GC, the more willing the peloton is to let them go on break in later stages.

Two climbers, De La Fuente and Hernandez, took off early to get climbing points and the pack was happy to let them go and become the controlling break in order to keep the attacking down and save legs. This forced Wegman to use a damage control strategy to remain in close contention for the KOM Title by taking remaining climbing points and stage a three rider attack on the last climb to catch De La Fuente and win the KOM prime. It kept him in second place only two points down. It was a good effort and move. These three riders are currently the core of the battle for the early lead in Climbing points and only have four more stages to fight over this title.

The break was reeled in towards the end of the stage and the expected attacking took place with the sprinting teams barely managing to keep a break from winning. The last rider to attempt a break wasn't caught until about 50 meters from the line. It was a good effort by a rider who wouldn't have won the pack sprint and decided to take a chance at winning it on break. It almost worked.

Hushovd and Boonen worked to get time bonuses for the early lead on GC and Hushovd regained the lead with Boonen now not far behind at only 8 seconds down. With McEwen now only at 10 seconds down and all three riders in the top three on the Points Title, will this turn into an early three way battle for GC and the Points Title? This could get interesting and fun. It will be interesting to see what each team's strategy will be over the next few days. One team may want to try to get points and time bonuses from road primes while another may want to focus on getting points and time bonuses from stage wins.

Keep an eye on the White Jersey Title because it shows which teams have promising stars for the future and which teams have a building team with a large number of young riders. For example, FDJ has three young riders in the top 10 for this title and two in the top five showing they are a young team looking to the future.

Tomorrow

This will be another long stage at 216.5 km with another five KOM primes and three road primes. All but one of the 8 primes will be in the second half and it is another stage which could be won by a break with probable late stage attacking. Watch for Wegman to try and get back the KOM Title lead but will he try to do it with a long break or hope he will be able to gain points late in the stage without a break? He is only two points down and would need just a few left over points to regain the lead. Look for SDV to defend their lead.

Also watch for the sprinter dual to continue with it now having GC implications for Hushovd, Boonen, and McEwen. This could be interesting and fun.

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