Profile
Stage 3 is 185km long on some pretty hilly terrain. Along the course are 1 intermediate sprint, after 25km, and 4 categorized climbs halfway the race. The last of these climbs is difficult with a length of 9km and an average gradient of about 8%. However with its top 50 km from the finish line a battle between the favorites can't be expected. Perhaps a chance for a breakaway to make it till the end?
Race
After only 2 stages there were already a lot of riders that had lost several minutes and saw a possibility of a breakaway making it till the end. That meant a lot of attacks and a fast pace. It took some time before a couple of riders finally got some room from the peleton.
At first it were 6 riders with as best climbers Christophe Moreau (AGR), Tiziano Dall'Antonia (PAN), Ian McLeod (FDJ) and (yes, he did it again) Hassen in the KOM jersey.
A few more riders were trying to make the jump and the leading 6 were followed by a group of 2 and a group of 4.
After already the fast start the peleton didn't slow much down and was keeping the now 12 riders strong breakaway within reach. That of course didn't stop Hassen from picking up a lot of mountain points.
The peleton stormed up the last categorized climb reeling in all breakaway riders along the way. Hassen however had left the others behind and was giving everything he got to try and pick up the maximum points on the top.
Only one favorite felt he had to force something. Kreuziger (LIQ), who indeed was already 2 minutes behind in the GC, attacked the peleton and passed Hassen before the top. Hassen did keep Ballan (LAM), who countered Kreuziger, behind him to come over the top in 2nd place.
With 50 km to go and less then a minutes lead Kreuziger realized it was pointless to continue on his own.
There were only 34 riders left in the front group. Two of our riders survived: Jay and Erik. Almost all favorites made the cut. Only Rogers (TMO) and Kirchen (TMO) were missing, which must be disappointing for T-Mobile as they are racing here in front of their home crowd.
With only a very long descent and a small bump 10 km left before the finish nobody tried to get away. That meant the group was going to sprint for the win.
Jay had still something left and with 1 km to go and Cancellara leading out the sprint he was still in 7th position.
Cancellara couldn't hold on and it was Ballan who was the fastest and won the sprint in front of Samuel Sánchez (C.A) and Dekker (RAB). Jay crossed the line in 9th place. Erik finished 19th.
30 Janez Brajkovic DISCOVERY CHANNEL s.t.
32 Chris Horner PREDICTOR - LOTTO s.t.
33 Carlos Sastre TEAM CSC s.t. 38 Juan Van Heerden TEAM KONICA MINOLTA + 2'34
50 Kim Kirchen T-MOBILE TEAM s.t.
55 Mauricio Ortega DISCOVERY CHANNEL s.t.
61 Michael Rogers T-MOBILE TEAM s.t. 65 Abdelbasset Hannachi TEAM KONICA MINOLTA s.t.
77 Dan Craven TEAM KONICA MINOLTA s.t.
135 Hassen Ben Nasser TEAM KONICA MINOLTA + 10'08
156 Christoff Van Heerden TEAM KONICA MINOLTA + 15'28
163 Dennis Van Niekerk TEAM KONICA MINOLTA + 16'08
KOM 1 Hassen Ben Nasser TEAM KONICA MINOLTA 32
2 Ian McLeod FRANÇAISE DES JEUX 10
3 Roman Kreuziger LIQUIGAS 10
4 Alessandro Ballan LAMPRE - FONDITAL 6
5 Christophe Moreau AG2R PRÉVOYANCE 5
Conclusion
Hassen was again impressive today and he now has a very firm grip on the KOM jersey.
And of course we're happy to see Jay and Erik hold on to the group with favorites. Jay even finished inside the top 10. They are now place 14th and 15th in the GC. Hopefully they can keep this up.
