Tour de France Stage 3 Recap: Verviers to Longwy
It’s a day for the puncheurs, so why did Adam Hansen breakaway at the start?
Hansen rides for Andre “the Gorilla” Greipel, who didn’t have a shot in hell on the hills. Hansen, an Australian rider in his 18th consecutive TDF, got away without visible exertion just after the peloton rolled up his Belgian teammate, Thomas De Gendt. The break continued at a lackluster pace for nearly three more hours before the race began in earnest.
This wasn’t far off my prediction for today. I thought we’d see either a thrilling early break or a late break and win by Peter Sagan. I was really hoping for a reprise of a similar stage ten from 2016, when Sagan, Michael Matthews, and a small group of puncheurs attacked near the start and held off the pack for the entirety of the 198-km course. (“What’s a puncheur,” you ask? It’s a bad ass who specializes in rolling hills and short, steep climbs.)
Instead, we got a three hour snooze fest and the most exciting ten minutes of racing so far in a positively thrilling finish. What, you want to know who wins? I’m getting to it, but first, you’re going to suffer through the same boring breakaway with me.
The Breakaway
Hansen plodded along like a man on holiday, while the peloton crawled to a halt to give him some space. It’s counter-intuitive, but a break composed of non-General Classification contenders is desirable on a day like today.
None of these fellows are going to win the GC and wear the yellow jersey in Paris, so it’s safe to let them go, and it prevents other attacks from causing chaos or threatening the leaders, while leaving a tired group of escapees who will be easy to catch before the final climb and finish.
Out of the pack, American Nathan Brown with Cannondale Drapac was the luckiest — or the most strategic. He rode Nills Pollit’s wheel to the climbs and then broke away to take the King of the Mountain points, earning the Polka Dot jersey from teammate Taylor Phinney and the enmity of Pollit, who must be irritated at having helped Brown win honors.
If that move was probably planned by Cannondale to keep the Polka Dot jersey, it was a brilliant improvisation by Brown. Both Brown and Phinney are first time TDF riders, and it’ll be exciting to see how they develop over time.
But What Was The Point of the Break?
What looked like lazy, impulsive riding by Hansen turned out to be a smart tactical move by Lotto Soudal, with hopes to put their own puncheur, De Gendt, into a winning late breakaway.
Nearly 4 hours into the race, De Gendt attacked with two frenchmen, caught Hansen, and sat in as Hansen pushed hard to bring him into a strong position before happily falling back to rejoin the peloton, his job finished.
De Gendt couldn’t keep up with his group though, and was reeled in after a disappointing 15 minutes of effort, with around 25km left and the category 3 climb still to come. It all came to naught, but made for a thrilling conclusion to a mostly boring break.
Finally! Back to the Finish!
What a day! In the last few kilometers, Richie Porte’s BMC squad got right behind Marcus Burghardt and showed a level of confidence and strength that I wasn’t expecting.
With a lead out by teammate Greg Van Avermaet, Porte moved up the hill, Alberto Contador just behind, and Chris Froome slightly back in the small field. Just before Avermaet pulled out near the 900 meter mark, Porte attacked cautiously. He showed great form but was understandably reluctant to bring Contador with him to an easy stage win. After a few furtive looks, Contador fell off around the 500 meter mark, and Porte kept going, with no serious response from the rest of the GC.
Enter Peter Sagan
“What is pressure? I don’t know what is it? (awkward laugh)” — Peter Sagan
Remember my comparison to last year? In 2016, Peter Sagan nearly won stage ten of the Tour. His breakaway survived, and he found himself meters from victory when Michael Matthews pipped him on the line, putting Sagan in a disappointing second place.
I felt like a psychic when I saw him sprint past Porte and a rejuvenated Avermaet only to see Matthews pop up behind him to the right. Then, Sagan’s cleat broke free, his left foot off the pedal, and I started screaming along with announcer Matthew Keenan.
There’s a reason they call Sagan the Wolverine. Always cool under pressure and incredibly tenacious, he calmly clipped back in with a fluid motion and kept on, crossing the line just before Matthews and third place Daniel Martin. He told the journalists after that he made two mistakes: sprinting too early and losing his pedal, but I think he was wrong on the first count, and might not have won if he’d put it off any longer. The top-down showed that Matthews had a much higher top speed but a later launch, and I think Sagan’s instincts were dead-on when he jumped ahead.
I was fortunate to see Sagan win the UCI World Championship in Richmond, VA, and it was exciting to watch him pull off another plucky, instinct-driven win. He’s a rider with guts and heart, and a well-earned devoted fan base to boot!
Amazing Win! What About Porte and the GC?
It’s hard to say. Porte looked great, and I remain impressed. Between his calm ride through carnage on day two and his newfound confidence today, I think he’s looking like GC material.
I don’t know that he’ll still look this good on day 12, but my hopes are high. Chris Froome didn’t look bad, but he didn’t go with Porte’s attack; that could have been tactics, or surprise, or a sign of weakness, but his finish just behind the peloton implies he’s feeling strong. All of the GC contenders finished in the first post-sprint group, along with much-watched debut riders Johan Esteban Chaves and Louis Meintjes.
And the French?
Romain Bardet crashed but escaped injury, finishing with Froome, Nairo Quintana, Contador, Porte, and Fabio Aru.
Pierre Latour made it into the white jersey, winning the best young rider competition, and fellow TDF debut Lilian Calmejane was named most combative for his daring break near the last 10k. After De Gendt sat up, Calmejane fought on, forcing the peloton to catch him.
Sounds Good. And the Route?
It was a gorgeous day riding out of Belgium, into the beautiful countryside of Luxembourg, and straight through the nation north to south into France, where the Tour will remain. Luxembourg has a surprising number of champions for such a tiny nation (5!), and segments included an interview with Andy Schleck and “Legend” clips about other Luxembourgian winners.
Thanks again to Michal Kwiatkowski we have a Strava log. He recorded a max speed of 55.3 mph and a top cadence of 163 over 5 hours and 21 minutes.
What’s Marcel Kittel Doing?
“The only way I can win the green jersey is if Peter Sagan gets sick.” — Kittel
The biggest man in the Tour at 6'2" and 190 lbs, Kittel initially said he’d contest the intermediate sprint but declared he had no hopes of retaining his green jersey for Paris. He didn’t put much effort into that intermediate sprint for 7th, though, and Mark Cavendish easily rode over the line.
Like most of the sprinters, Kittel dropped from the peloton on the final climb today, although he gave the camera a huge grin and wave.
Tomorrow is another long flat stage with a sprint, and it looks like a day for a pure sprinter. The route is going to be windy, which tips the odds for Cavendish; the Manx Missile has won other windy sprint stages, like stage fourteen of last year’s Tour in Villars-Les-Dombes, France. In that stage, Alexander Kristoff came in second, but the Norwegian has issues with his team, and told journalists that he’s under fire for being “too heavy”.
Kristoff is bigger than Cavendish, but he isn’t really heavy for a sprinter. Regardless, the internal friction at his team combined with Cavendish’s lower profile in the wind will likely lead to a 31st career win for the latter.
It’s always possible that the wind will prevent a pure sprinter from winning, which would help long-shot contender Sagan. He finished 3rd in last year’s stage 14 behind Cav and Kristoff, but he’ll be recovering from a big effort tomorrow, and will need to tire out his rivals. The tip off will be an early move by his Bora squad to push up the pace into the wind.
Taylor Phinney: Hipster, Haruki Murakami Fan
“It felt like a dream, to be honest, out there. I’ve been reading a lot of Murakami so maybe that’s why it felt like a dream.”
That’s all the race news for today, but I just need to point out that Phinney, in addition to being one of the coolest riders in the peloton, is maybe the first bike race hipster. This is probably the perfect antidote to the jock-driven history of American participation in the Tour, and it was pretty freaking cool when he compared his King of the Mountain honors to reading Murakami, something he’s talked about before on his twitter feed.
See you all tomorrow for stage four and thanks for reading!
I’m (attempting) to blog the 2017 TDF each day. This was Stage Three.
Read the others: Stage One, Stage Two, Stage Four
Follow me on Twitter or Facebook for updates, or here on Medium. Just want to see photos from bike rides? Don’t worry, I have Instagram too. Website is davidstreever.com.
Can I fit in another (two) plugs? I wrote two bike books for Falcon Guides. They are both good! You can buy them at Amazon and other places, too. Best Bike Rides Connecticut (Amazon) and Best Bike Rides Long Island (Amazon)
