We could start getting decisive today that may be rated as flat but with the late ascent of the Col de L'Europe it is a fairly complicated finale.
Sobal of Tinkov managed to get the leaders jersey yesterday with the winners 20 second bonus leapfrogging him over Kim Kirchen. However the Luxembourger managed to follow his opening stage victory up with a 3rd place, he now leads the points competition and knows there are tough tests ahead in the coming days.
Once again the main attention on of the small peleton is the finale, however a few riders are at least happy to briefly break up the monotony by going for the KOM primes.
It is the Moinard and Rovny show again... todays guest is Grippo
Moinard takes the first prime, however the co-hosts of the Luxembourg hills show confused everyone by swapping roles in their next broadcast.
Shocking moment as Rovny beats Moinard to the KOM prime
Both times it was Grippo (not Caruso) who went for the primes, also in the peleton Milka youngster Nepomnyachsniy [yes I have to cut and paste that guys name] gets the last point. Pendleton's seem concerned by the Rovny winning the prime moment and so they sent one of their flock out on a... wait for it... attack.
The Luxembourg public see some breakaway action on stage 3
It is Cherel and he means business taking the 3rd mountain prime and by the 50km point has a nice 3 minute lead. At this 3rd mountain prime it seems as if Rovny's moment of glory has passed as the race for second place is won by Moinard.
Moinard is not making a meal of this
Grippo takes a 3rd place at this sprint ahead of Rovny, wow what a demotion for the Russian. It was a relief when at the 4th KOM prime the usual routine was restored with Moinard leading over Rovny and then Grippo. This behind Cherel still who sadly begins to fade and gets nabbed by the peleton shortly over this bridge with about 25km to go.
The end is nigh for Cherel
There is still one more mountain prime to consider and we get a real close sprint between well who else Moinard and Rovny!
Moinard confirms his superiority by taking the win
Grippo takes yet another 3rd place and it is Duret of Pendletons who takes 4th. This is a precursor to yet another little move from the ice cream boys - they realise there is a sprint prime up the road and Wiggins is being led out by Duret here!
Clever move catches peleton unawares
Wiggins would take the 6 second time bonus (and 6 points) for leading over the sprint prime, as Duret fades however he gets overtaking by some other eager riders.
Smukalis gets second and Caruso nabs third.
The expected chaos at the finish does not really develop as we actually get some pretty respectable sprint trains going on here.
3500m to go
Okay in the lead we have the Pendletons train Duret, Melletta, Kocjan, Trusov, Vorganov and Stybar are here. Next door is the Wiggle train with Pavarin, Ponzi and Bagdonas and finally on the far side is home youngster Thill leading out El Fares and Kirchen! Realising that being behind Trusov was probably not going to net him victory Vorganov detaches himself and comes through the middle.
2300m to go
Here it is Stybar and El Fares on his wheel and the middle train really rockets away as the other riders seem rather stationary. Unfortunately for Vorganov, Stybar is quite a tough rider and he draws level with him under the 1km to go banner.
Milka man raises the bar
The Czech overtakes the Pendletons man who holds off El Fares for second place.
Stybar refuses to milk the moment
All three riders were more than 20 seconds back from Sobal, however perhaps frustrated by the lack of attacks the officials decide to recognise a tiny 16 second gap! Stybar might well decide to milk his moment in Yellow now, as a decidedly miffed looking Tinkoff squad look on.
