With the surprise breakaway win on stage 2, there's no doubt that the peloton wants to take revenge on this stage. It isn't suited perfectly for sprinters, though, as it ends on a rather steep hill. On the other hand, the hill isn't long enough to make any huge differences - so we'll have to wait and see what this stage has to offer.
Stage 2's big winner, Petrie-Armstrong, had to choose between three shirts when he started on today's stage. He led the Points Classification, the Mountain Classification and the Young Rider competition. In the end, he decided to wear the Points Jersey, though.
As on Stage 2, it quickly became evident that Vespa - Caffrey's wanted to animate this stage. Andy Cappelle launched today's first breakaway attempt and was soon joined by fast-man Haedo, Gallego, Shatskikh and O'Loughlin. And not very surprisingly, Haedo took the first points for the Points Classification on this stage.
This sprint also costed Shatskikh his participation in the Break of the Day. Instead, the four in front created a gap of c. 7 minutes with 100 km to go. Behind, BMC seemed to have a plan with placing Haedo in the break - they launched yet another attack, this time with Zirbel who was later joined by Osella, Tschopp and Iannetti.
In front, the four breakaway riders were getting closer to this stage's only mountain sprint. However, on the finishing hill, there were 10 points to fight for, so if you had hoped of getting in the Mountain Jersey, you'd also to have to be in front later on. Either way, Gallego took the 6 points with no competition. And on the way to the top, Cappelle was reminded who he's actually working for...
The other breakaway riders never really got a gap as the peloton shortly after started picking up the pace. And with 50 km to go, the leading group's gap was down to 3'12. 3 km later, Zirbel and go were caught. And then Vespa - Caffrey's once again demostrated their weird tactics. On Stage 2, they were at the front of the peloton despite having Petrie-Armstrong in front. At this stage, they had Cappelle in front, but that didn't stop them from leading out the peloton.
Going under the 20 km banner, the riders only had 1'30 to the P. So, it seemd like an impossible mission. Cappelle obviously didn't care much for numbers and statistics, though - and neither did he care about his own team working behind. With 14 km to go, he attacks with Haedo trying to follow (unsuccesfully). This made a Swedish coalition of Sony-Ericsson and IKEA - Bianchi come to the front to reel in Cappelle. and with 5 km to go, he still resisted and had a gap of 40 seconds - with Haedo finally being caught. And as you can see, it's still Vespa - Caffrey's at the front...
The peloton was coming fast, though, but it appeared that Cappelle had lots of energy left. With the 1 km banner in sight, Cappelle had a small lead over the peloton - and the chase has stopped. Instead, Kiserlovsi is at the front sprinting with Ribeiro, Peterson, Efimkin and Grillo right behind him.
Despite doing whatever possible, Cappelle just can't keep the peloton behind him, and with just 600 metres to go, it's over. Kiserlovski overtakes him, and he looks too demotivated to continue.
... and Kiserlovski takes a dominant win, leading the sprint from start to end/finish. Right behind him, it's Ghisalberti, who's come from pretty much out of nowhere, and Portuguese champion Nuno Ribeiro.
