Cavendish Wins No. 28, Sagan Retains Yellow

Mark Cavendish (Dimension Data) won Stage 3 today with a dramatic sprint finish in Angers. This win was Cavendish’s 28th stage win in the Tour and that mark equals Bernard Hinault and is approaching the 34 stage wins of Eddy Merckx. Peter Sagan (Tinkoff) came in fourth in the sprint and retained the Yellow Jersey, but Cavendish earned enough points to gain the Green Jersey.

For the first half of the stage, the peloton was moving slowly across the flat northern France countryside. Armindo Fonseca (Fortuneo-Vital Concept) was the sole breakaway rider, starting out very early in the stage. Fonseca built an eleven-minute lead at one point of the stage. He led the peloton through his hometown of Rennes. The peloton seemed disinterested in Fonseca and in racing in general. Until Thomas Voeckler (Direct Energie) bored by the slow pace, attacked and bridged the then 6-minute gap in 3 minutes with 82 km to go on the stage. Voeckler’s attack energized the peloton. The peloton began to pick up the pace, led by Tinkoff, Lotto Soudal, and Etixx QuickStep, reducing the gap to nothing by the 8 km mark. Fonseca spent 181 km in the lead today.

Mark Cavendish was behind André Greipel (Lotto Soudal) in the final rush to the finish line. Sagan and Bryan Coquard (Direct Energie)were directly behind the other two in the last sprint. At the line, Cavendish eked out a stage victory with a bike lunge that was inches ahead of Greipel’s bike lunge. The finish between the two was so close that each had to wait for the judges to review the photo finish.

The 223.5KM third stage from Granville on the coast of northern France to Angers was a flat stage with only one categorized climb early in the stage. The stage featured narrow roads and cool and cloudy conditions. The flat stage would be a sprinters’ stage with the GC contenders staying close to the front

Stage Results

1 Mark Cavendish Dimension Data 5:59:54
2 André Greipel Lotto Soudal
3 Bryan Coquard Direct Energie
4 Peter Sagan Tinkoff Team
5 Edward Theuns Trek-Segafredo
6 Sondre Holst Enger IAM Cycling
7 Marcel Kittel Etixx - Quick-Step
8 Christophe Laporte Cofidis, Solutions Credits
9 Daniel Mclay Fortuneo - Vital Concept
10 Dylan Groenewegen Team LottoNl-Jumbo

Overall Standings

1 Peter Sagan Tinkoff Team 14:34:36
2 Julian Alaphilippe Etixx - Quick-Step 0:00:08
3 Alejandro Valverde Movistar Team 0:00:10
4 Christopher Froome Team Sky 0:00:14
5 Warren Barguil Team Giant-Alpecin
6 Nairo Quintana Movistar Team
7 Roman Kreuziger Tinkoff Team
8 Tony Gallopin   Lotto Soudal
9 Fabio Aru Astana Pro Team
10 Daniel Martin Etixx - Quick-Step

Green Jersey Standings

1 Mark Cavendish Dimension Data 123 pts
2 Peter Sagan Tinkoff Team 116
3 André Greipel Lotto Soudal 79
4 Marcel Kittel Etixx - Quick-Step 77
5 Bryan Coquard   Direct Energie 52