It's another short day to finish off our 3 days here in Burkina Faso but what a day it is! We may only have 127km from start to finish but there are more kilometres today that have cobbles than don't. What is about to unfold in front of us today?
Well these riders are hoping that, whatever unfolds, they come out on or near the top. The race and battle for the stage win and overall race win will most definitely be on today! Let's get to it.
As they say, start how you mean to go on. We start where we end, on the cobblestones! Oh and it's raining a bit as well just to add to the fun.
The road and the conditions don't seem to stop a number of riders from accelerating away from the Peloton early on here. Trying to avoid the camera bike does prove difficult for this duo.
105km remaining, with still 6km of this 25km cobbled section to go, we have only 2 riders out in front of the Peloton. Menicucci and Konwa (70 & 72 COB) are the 2 riders who have a 1'12 gap at this time over a Peloton which is down to less than 70 riders already.
Konwa rolls through the first of 3 intermediate sprints first. He's got a small gap to his former partner who just isn't as strong over the cobblestones. Gap is 1'10.
In one of the lowest intensity chases of all time, the leading duo has been caught. 90km still remaining and our Peloton size is down to 46 with Sarreau currently setting the pace. All of the Top 13 riders in the GC are safely in this group.
Major, 7th in the GC, is the first of the Top 10 to be dropped but he would have been expecting it on such a day. 70km to go and the Peloton now 40 riders.
35 riders go through the 2nd intermediate sprint and it's GC leader Ariesen who is at the head of the Peloton. 61km remaining.
47km now to go and we had 44 riders in the Peloton which is on the longest flat section of the day but Louvel has decided to add a bit of spice into the day with a surprise attack.
38km remaining and the Frenchman wins the final intermediate sprint of the day. He holds a 36 second gap but expect that to disappear when the 43 man Peloton hits the final section of the day which goes all the way to the finish!
The catch is actually made with 32km to go, still 8km out from the beginning of the end.
No action yet with 18km to go. GC leader Ariesen is starting to look too comfortable.
And here are the first accelerations with 15km remaining. It's Lampaert (6th @ + 2'49) and Taubel (42nd @ + 4'31) with Insausti (30th @ 4'31) for company.
10km to go and this trio have built up a gap of 43 seconds to a chasing group of now only 19! Bigger news is that Ariesen is struggling to hold onto the back of this group.
The GC leader has cracked! 9km for him to go and he's already almost 2 minutes behind the leading trio. He is still in the race lead but it's definitely under threat now.
5km to go and up front Insasusti is struggling to keep with the pace of Lampaert who is now sniffing a potential race win. The gap between these 3 and the group behind is 1'27.
2.2km and it's Lampaert who is making the move for the stage win as he seems to be far too strong.
Further back, the race for the podium and the Top 5 is on. Manakov (2'42) is in the next group of 3 on the road with Sweeck (4'31) and Vanmaercke (4'31). Just behind them is Edmondson (2'57) and then another 12 riders all in the 3-5 minute mark.
A great day in the saddle for Yves Lampaert who wins the final stage here in Burkina Faso and we'll see him again soon as he's surely taken the race win as well!
Christoph Taubel comes through 2nd, a big leap in the GC is on the cards for him!
Sep Vanmaercke makes it a 2-3 for his team as he flies through for 3rd ahead of Insausti and Manakov.
Fenn is through in 6th, Scotson just comes in ahead of De Witte for 7th with Edmondson 9th.
Centrone takes the final place in the Top 10 ahead of Minions duo Sweeck and Marcos with Declerq our final focus rider in 12th.
Oh and Ariesen finishes 24th more than 5 minutes behind our stage winner.
A brutal time limit of 40'04 means that only 87 riders finish this race.
A show of strength on the final stage rewards Yves Lampaert with a dominant win here in the Tour du Faso with a gap of over 1 minute.
It was then very close in the Top 5 with Manakov 2nd, Fenn 3rd, Chatarunga 4th and Edmondson 5th. A great final stage effort from Taubel gives him 6th. Former leader Ariesen drops down to 7th but still a solid result for him. Vanmaercke takes 8th with Insausti 9th and Australian Scotson rounding out the Top 10.
Yves Lampaert wins the Points classification also. Sadly for Culey, he finished a few minutes outside of today's time limit as his total of 40 would have been enough to take home Green.
Luigi Giuletti makes it even better for his team by narrowly winning the U25s over his countryman Menicucci.
Bianchi - Panerai win the Teams Classification by 30 seconds over Caja Rural.
Tour du Faso - Stage 3 Report 
