Stage 3 -- July 3: Orchies to Boulogne-sur-Mer, 197 km (122 mi)
Sagan runs his way over the line as those behind suffer. Photograph: Lionel Bonaventure/AFP/Getty Images
It was the celebration of victory that I have always dreamed of doing on the bike but never felt there was the onlooking crowd, nor the victory big enough, to match the occasion. So it was with a tint of jealousy that I looked on at Peter Sagan as he crested the final brutal climb -- much like on Sunday but with a greater winning margin still -- sat up and done his Run-Forest-Run style celebration while his biggest rivals grimaced at the onset of pain several yards behind.
It was a hell of a stage and a slap in the face to anyone who dared pick anyone else as a potential winner on this day, especially after seeing what he did on stage one. At 22-years of age, Peter Sagan is possibly the most talented man in the sport and in his first Tour de France he is showing that the sky is the limit. In his first three stage races in his Tour career, he has won two for a 66.7% strike rate. It's a phenominal start and as the stages and years go by you figure this could well be the next dominant rider of the sport.
Has he the potential to win a Grand Tour? Well, not this year, but certainly with the right kind of training he could in the future. "My personal bet is that - with the proper maturation, weight loss - is that he'll become a Grand Tour rider," said his coach, Paolo Slongo after his win on Sunday. "Like Armstrong, who began his career as a bigger rider, a little brash, who no one gave much faith. He has no limits in the one-day races and I'm betting on the Grand Tours as well."
The voice of English speaking cycling, Phil Liggett, called him the next Eddy Merckx during his commentary yesterday.
A lot to be heaped onto the shoulders of a 22-year old, but looking at how he finished yesterday's stage, you get the feeling he can handle it.
And what a finish to that stage it was. Five categorised climbs in the final thirty or so kilometers including two category three climbs. As ever a break wen't away early that once again -- amazingly -- included Michael Mørkøv, who has now spent a staggering 500 plus kilometers at the front of the race since Saturday, and allowed him to snap up more King of the Mountains points that should keep the jersey on his shoulders for a few more days. It's a hell of an effort to go to in order to retain a jersey for a handful more days but it just shows you what a leaders jersey in the Tour de France will do to a man. Perhaps not factoring in that there was still some three weeks left in this Tour, Mørkøv has been spending a lot of energy in the search of another jersey with which to fill his wardrobe at home with, and when his legs finally said enough they did so in style. He was swept up on the second to last climb by a hard charging yet shrinking peloton that went past him as though he were standing still. But his job was done for the day and he could tootle home knowing that once in he would be going back on the podium once again.
While Mørkøv had been out there with his break companions, the race had been getting split to pieces. Several crashes on the tricky roads of Northern France with the undulating course, seen the field split into a number of groups with several big names getting caught out. Philippe Gilbert who had been my pick to win today was caught up and lost a lot of minutes and therefore his chance to find some form, while Thomas Voeckler was a big loser as any hopes he might have had of repeating 2011 were wiped out when he finished 7'27" behind Sagan. Another was Tom Danielson of Garmin who finished 9'11" down after being held up by a crash.
These classic style stages in which the risk of time gaps is huge can often create carnage in the peloton and today was no exception, but let's make one thing clear. It was bloody fantastic to watch. To hell with the old tradition of a first week being packed with flat simple stages for the sprinters. A few stages like this and Saturday's to shake up the GC and keep the big names on their toes, stretching their legs up some short but tough little climbs, is exactly what we need.
Safe then to say this was one of the better first week stages in recent memory?
With a large group back at the head of the race and into the final five kilometers, Sylvian Chavanel took a stab at glory. He only needed seven seconds on Cancellara and while he briefly had it and more it never looked like a move that would stick and on the way up that final sharp little rise to the line he was swept up by a group of men putting out enough combined wattage in power to run a small town in France for a month. The head of which was Sagan, who rounded the final corner (one rider went straight on costing him any chance of glory), avoided the small crash behind him that held up Bradley Wiggins (he got the same time as everyone who finished a second behind Sagan on the line due to the crash being inside the final 3 kilometers), and powered away to a magnificent victory ... one that more than earned him the right to produce a silly, yet amusing celebration.
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QUOTE OF THE DAY
“Now I´ll try a comeback on Twitter after 2 years in the dark. Can´t wait to get started on another day in the polka dot jersey.” -- Michael Morkov who, inspired by keeping the polka-dot jersey, got into his third break in three days today and was inspired back onto Twitter after last posting on August 27, 2010 .
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FAKE TWEET OF THE DAY
@Peter_Sagan If you don't like my celebrations, beat me. Can't wait to break out my next one! #SaganCelebration
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ABANDONMENT'S
It only took four days worth of riding -- though on average that's not bad at all -- for the first names to with draw from the race. They were Kanstantsin Sivtsov of the Sky team who would have been a valuable allay of Wiggin's in the mountains. He crashed out and left the race injured. The other was Jose Joaquin Rojas, the man who pushed Cavendish all the way in the Green jersey competition last year. He took withdrew through injury.
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STAGE 3 RESULT
1. Peter Sagan (Svk) Liquigas-Cannondale 4-42-58
2. Edvald Boasson Hagen (Nor) Team Sky at 1 sec
3. Peter Velits (Svk) Omega Pharma-Quick Step
4. Fabian Cancellara (Swi) Radioshack-Nissan
5. Michael Albasini (Swi) Orica-GreenEdge
6. Cadel Evans (Aus) BMC Racing at same time
GENERAL CLASSIFICATION AFTER STAGE 3
1. Fabian Cancellara (Sui) RadioShack-Nissan 14-45-30
2. Bradley Wiggins (GBr) Team Sky at 7 sec
3. Sylvain Chavanel (Fra) Omega Pharma QuickStep at same time
4. Tejay Van Garderen (USA) BMC Racing at 10 sec
5. Edvald Boasson Hagen (Nor) Team Sky at 11 sec
6. Denis Menchov (Rus) Katusha at 13 sec
7. Cadel Evans (Aus) BMC Racing at 17 sec
8. Vincenzo Nibali (Ita) Liquigas at 18 sec
9. Ryder Hesjedal (Can) Garmin-Sharp at same time
10. Andreas Kloden (Ger) Radioshack-Nissan at 19sec
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THE RACE FOR THE LANTERNE ROUGE
Over the course of the race I'll be bringing updates on the race for the Lanterne Rouge -- the last man in the Tour de France. A honour in itself to trail around at the back but to do so without falling pray to the elimination time on the day. This competition won't seriously heat up until the big mountains, but after two stages with two very tough finishes on Saturday and today, it's worth having a look at the 196. Brice Feillu (Fra) Saur-Sojasun 15-15-35
195. Marcel Kittel (Ger) Argos-Shimano at 2-20
194. Pablo Urtasun Perez (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi at 6-54
193. Albert Timmer (Ned) Argos-Shimano at 7-12
192. Patrick Gretsch (Ger) Argos-Shimano at 10-24
191. Sebastian Langeveld (Ned) Orica GreenEdge at 10-27
