Mark Cavendish speaks: “Although I didn’t get to sprint today, I think I was lucky,” he tells Eurosport. “I just saw Caleb and he doesn’t look in a good way, so I hope he’s OK.”
Caleb Ewan: Having come down in an awful crash in the final couple of hundred metres, Caleb Ewan has not been listed as a stage finisher. One of his team-mates has just told Eurosport that he has a broken collarbone and his race is over.
Stage three report ...
Jeremy Whittle is in Pontivy for the Guardian and has performed heroics to file this report so quickly at the end of a truly chaotic stage.
Thomas and Roglic deficits: After heavy falls, Geraint Thomas finishes the day 1 min 07sec behind on General Classification. Primoz Roglic is 1min 21sec off the pace set by Mathiu van der Poel, who remains in yellow. Both men are also nursing cuts and bruises.
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And the rest: Race leader Mathiu van der Poel, Julian Alaphilippe and Richard Carapaz were the notable general classification riders to make it over the line in the front group. Reigning champion Pogacar and former winner Thomas were part of a group that came over the line 26 seconds down.
Mark Cavendish: Looking for his first Tour de France stage win in five years, the Manxman’s chances were scuppered when he got held up by a crash four kilometres from the end of the stage.
Geraint Thomas: The Ineos rider dislocated his shoulder in a fall earlier in the stage, but a doctor popped it back in and he appears to be OK. We’ll know more later when his injury is properly assessed.
Jumbo-Visma: Having lost Robert Gesink to abandonment following a crash that almost ended Geraint Thomas’s Tour too, Jumbo-Visma suffered more misfortune when Primoz Roglic crashed with 10 kilometres to go. Unconfirmed: he finished 1min 21sec behind the stage winner and is now 55 seconds behind Geraint Thomas.
Caleb Ewan: The Australian was still lying on the ground receiving medical attention as the stragglers were pedalling home. Here’s hoping he’s OK but he didn’t look in great shape. Having seen the crash several times, it’s difficult to know what happened to cause the crash. He was riding on the barrier and just behind Tim Merlier, his wheel seemed to go from underneath him, prompting him to veer violently to his left and go down in a tangle of limbs, wheels and frames with Peter Sagan.
Stage three: Lorient to Pontify
- Winner: Tim Merlier (Alpecin-Fenix) 4hr 01min 28sec
- Second: Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Fenix)
- Third: Nacer Bouhanni (Arkéa–Samsic)
Tim Merlier wins the stage. Merlier wins on his Tour debut, giving Team Alpecin–Fenix another win to go with the yellow jersey being worn by Mathieu van der Poel. For the third day in a row there have been scenes of absolute chaos on the road. It will take a while to pick the bones out of today’s stage ... bear with us.
Another crash! There was a sickening crash in the closing stages. Caleb Ewan’s front wheel slid from under him as he negotiated the final turn and he brought down Peter Sagan. It was a horrible fall and Ewan came out second best.
Tim Merlier wins the stage ...
The Belgian Alpecin–Fenix rider wins the stage.
1km to go: A bunch of 15 or 20 riders will contest the closing stages.
2km to go: There’s a group of 25 or 30 riders left at the front, with the rest of the field smithereened and splintered all over the road. I don’t think Mark Cavendish is in the lead bunch. Caleb Ewan is there.
3 min: A Bahrain Victorious rider was left flat on his back looking in all sorts of bother following that latest crash. Hold on ... he’s back on his feet. This is carnage!!!
Another big crash
4km to go: There’s another big crash with eight or nine riders on the floor. None of the bunch leaders have been affected by this one.
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6km to go: The breakaway has been caught and the sprint finish is on. There is no shortage of drama at the front and back of the bunch, which has been split in two following that crash.
7km to go: Jumbo-Visma contionue to try to pace Roglic back to the bunch but he’s over a minute behind. They[’re in danger of getting themselves in trouble for drafting behind assorted race cars as they step up their efforts.
9km to go: Jumbo-Visma have a big job on their hands to time-trial a battered looking Primoz Roglic back to the bunch. His shorts and jersey are ripped on the left-hand side and he’s over a minute behind.
Now Roglic goes down
10km to go: There’s another crash, with Primoz Roglic spilling out the side-door of the peloton. It’s a disastrous day for Jumbo-Visma, who have already lost Robert Gesink to a crash earlier in the day.
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11km to go: There’s a crash towards the back of the bunch, with at least one Movistar rider hitting the deck.
13km to go: Team DSM get to the front, hoping to lead out Cees Bol for a stage win.
15km to go: Arnaud Demare is about 20 riders from the front, a little to the left of Caleb Ewan, who is a couple of bike lengths behind him. We’re in for a technical finish here, with plenty of tight turns.
17km to go: The road is narrow, with riders five abreast across the front. Deceuninck Quick-Step are in a line, second from the left. Jumbo Visma are on the right hand side, hugging the grass margin.
18km to go: The gap is tumbling and is now at 39 seconds. At the front of the bunch, the riders look tense. Wout van Aert is there, putting in the hard yards to keep Primoz Roglic near the front.
19km to go: The gap from the four-man breakaway to the peloton drops below a minute for the first time.
22km to go: Mark Cavendish is in a good position as he tries to win his first Tour De France stage in five years. Can he roll back those years? It seems unlikely but only a fool would rule it out.
28km to go: As we approach the business end of today’s stage, the riders of Jumbo-Visma, Lotto-Soudal, Deceuninck-Quick-Step and Ineos Grenadiers are all at the front of the bunch.
30km to go: The gap is 1min 40sec, with the four riders in the breakaway battling gamely to stay in front. At the front of the peloton, Deceuninck–Quick-Step domestique Tim “The Tractor” Declercq is barking orders.
38km to go: The gap from the leading four riders to the bunch is 1min 27sec. Barring something extraordinary, it is only a matter of time before they are reeled in. Back in the peloton, Tony Martin is at the front for Jumbo-Visma, despite suffering another heavy fall today - his third or fourth since Saturday – today.
Another email: “I’d suggest that Manny misunderstands David Miller’s role when chiding him for his comments on Geraint Thomas,” writes Gary Naylor. “Miller is speaking in real time on pictures he has seen and his knowledge of the rider, the terrain and the stage situation - he’s not announcing the conclusions of a Royal Commission. Miller is rare in being close to many riders and directeurs sportifs yet fearless in his opinions - would that other sports’ pundits were as vanillaphobic as he is.”
An email: “I think the term ‘accident prone’ is a type of karma,” writes Mark. “One draws oneself towards things, and moments. One could also look at Tony Martin this year, and Contador on that famous tour that Cadel Evans won, and you could definitely say the same of Porte. Overall though, proper statistical analysis would be needed, to disprove the adage ‘some have all the luck’ (Cancellara?)“
47km to go: With less than 50 kilometres to go, the teams in the peloton are starting to get things in order as far as lead-out traions are concerned. The gap from the breakaway to the bunch is 1min 06sec. Caleb Ewan is the hot favourite to win today’s stage, but all eyes will be on Mark Cavendish, who will be hoping to upset the odds.
54km to go: In the green jersey, Alaphilippe rejoins the bunch after getting his replacement front wheel.
Intermediate sprint result
- 1. Barthe 20 points
- 2. Chevalier 17
- 3. Schär 15
- 4. Wallays 13
- 5. Ewan 11
- 6. Cavendish 10
- 7. Morkov 9
- 8. Colbrelli 8
- 9. Démare 7
- 10. Sagan 6
- 11. Matthews 5
- 12. Philipsen 4
- 13. Guarnieri 3
- 14. Haller 2
- 15. Oss 1
58km to go: Julian Alaphilippe drops out of the bunch with a front wheel puncture and gets a replacement before setting off again.
63km to go: It has not been officially confirmed but after a short sprint, Caleb Ewan looks to be first from the bunch to pass under the intermediate sprint kite, beating Mark Cavendish by a whisker.
64km to go: The four riders roll through the intermediate sprint kite, leaving 11 points up for grabs to the first man from the bunch to do so.
67km to go: The field is approaching today’s intermediate sprint, with the teams of various sprinters getting their ducks in a row. Bahrain Victorious sprinter Sonny Colbrelli appears to having a frank exchange of views with one of his team-mates ahead of the sprint. There’s a lot of furious gesticulation going on.
71km to go: Team Qhuebecka Nexthash rider Sean Bennett stops for a mechanical.
An email: “I think it’s possible that Geraint is both unlucky and accident prone,” writes Mark Seddon. “A lot of his accidents have been the fault of someone/something else, but he has been known to go down on his own (eg the most recent Criterium du Dauphine). Didn’t see what happened this time.” I’m not exactly sure what happened either but I guess we’ll find out afterwards.
77km to go: A race motorbike pulls up along side the breakaway group, slows down and the official on the back shows the four riders in the breakaway some numbers chalked on a blackboard. Specifically, the numbers “2’15”.
80km to go: And then there were four: Jelle Wallays (Cofidis), Michael Schar (AG2R-Citroën), Maxime Chevalier and Cyril Barthe (B&B-KTM) have a gap of 2min 20sec on the peloton.
84km to go: Ide Schelling has indeed droppped out of the breakaway group and is now back in the sanctuary of the bunch. He’ll probably keep the polka-dot jersey for the next four stages at least.
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An email: “I think David Miller is over reacting with Geriant Thomas accident,” writes Manny. “You simply cannot tell from the replay the full cause of the accident. David is simply assuming it’s Thomas fault which is quite poor.”
You may well be right, Manny. However, even before today’s crash, Thomas has long been renowned for being particularly accident prone. He may well be unlucky but he does seem to be involved in a lot of crashes.
90km to go: I could be wrong, but Ide Schelling seems to have signalled to his fellow breakaway riders that he’s going to leave them and drop back to the bunch. There is one more KOM point available today but as long as one of the remaining quartet in the leading group takes it, Schelling will remain in polka-dots. Schelling is in his third breakaway in as many days and might fancy a rest back in the bunch.
91km to go: |In the King of Mountains jersey, which should by rights be on the shoulders of race leader Mathiu van der Poel, Ide Schelling breaks away from the breakaway and takes the KOM point. The polka-dot jersey is his by right.
92km to go: The breakaway group is on the Category Four Cote de Cadoudal, where one of two of today’s King of the Mountains points is up for grabs.
98km to go: The riders empty their pockets, chucking empty bottles, food wrappers and what not to the side of the road as they pass through a designated littering area and move on through the feed zone. Soon after, they’ll pass through another littering area. Littering in an undesignated area is a disqualifiable offence in cycling these days.
In today’s breakaway, Michael Schar was one of the first riders to fall foul of the rule, controversially and harshly being disqualified from this year’s Tour of Flanders after throwing an empty bidon in the direction of a group of fans at the roadside, one of whom picked it up to keep it as a souvenir.
100km to go: With exactly 100 kilometres to go in today’s stage, the gap between the breakaway group and the bunch is 2min 09sec.
104km to go: Schar rejoins the breakaway.
108km to go: Michael Schar briefly drops out of the breakaway after his chain slips off the big ring. He’s back on his bike and chasing down his escape party.
110km to go: Team Ineos Grenadiers have dropped down the bunch from their original position near the front. On ITV, David Millar says that once his body has got over the shock of what happened, in 30 minutes or so, Geraint Thomas will have a much better idea of how he stands. Considering his Tour looked over 30 minutes ago, he seems to be doing OK.
113km to go: The gap from the breakaway to the bunch is 1min 43sec.
114km to go: The rain in Brittany has made way for bright sunshine ... for the time being at least.
119km to go: Determined to hog the headlines, Thomas now drops back to his team car for a bike change.
121km to go: His moment of panic and drama over, Geraint Thomas is now having something to eat. For what it’s worth, he’s able to reach into the back pocket of his jersey with his right arm. It looks like he might be OK.
122km to go: Jelle Wallays (Cofidis), Michael Schar (AG2R-Citroën), Ide Schelling (Bora-Hansgrohe), Maxime Chevalier and Cyril Barthe (B&B-KTM) continue to lead the stage, with the gap at 2min 25sec.
123km to go: Geraint Thomas and his teammates have re-attached themselves to the bunch.
128km to go: Luke Rowe, Dylan van Baarle and Jonathan Castroviejo continue to help Geraint Thomas back to the bunch. They’re making their way through the convoy of cars and are a minute behind. In what looks like good news for Thomas, he has been able to stand up on his pedals, which means his shoulder is able to take the pull on the handlebars that entails. Quite how he’ll pull up in the morning remains to be seen.
129km to go: Meanwhile at the front of the field, our five-man breakaway are 2min 40sec clear of the bunch and 3min 40sec clear of Thomas.
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132km to go: “There are too many of these incidents [involving Geraint Thomas] to call them accidents,” says David Millar on ITV, before Ned Boulting reads out a long litany of crashes the Welshman has suffered over the years. To be fair to Thomas, some of them definitely were not his fault. He’s currently being nursed back to the bunch by several teammates.
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135km to go: We’ve had an unexpected and unwelcome flurry of activity on what was supposed to be a fairly straightforward, with one of the race favourites back on his bike after sustaining what looked a painful shoulder injury, while another has lost one of his key helpers just three days into the race.
A dislocated shoulder, immediately treated by the team's osteo, they stated on @RTBFsport
— Sven Spoormakers (@SvenSpoormakers) June 28, 2021
137km to go: Robert Gesink’s abandonment is a huge blow to Jumbo-Visma, with the Dutchman a key lieutenant for Primoz Roglic. On Eurosport, there is speculation that the crash may have been caused by one of riders slipping on a railway track.
140km to go: Geraint Thomas continues pedalling on, his face a mask of pain as he does a self-assessment on his injured right arm. He’s continuing for the time being but it doesn’t look great for him.
Whether it’s being brought down in biblical rain, by rogue water bottles or official Tour vehicles, the Welshman has no luck. He’s just been examined by the Ineos team doctor and is being towed back to the bunch by Luke Rowe.
Robert Gesink abandons
The Dutch Jumbo-Visma rider was another casualty in that crash and has been forced to abandon the race.
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Geraint Thomas has remounted. He went down in a crash with Tony Martin, among others, and was holding his shoulder in the classic “I’ve broken my collarbone” style. He has, however, got back on his bike and is pedalling his way back to the bunch with a deficit of almost three minutes to make up.
Geraint Thomas has crashed!
The Ineos Grenadier rider and former winner has hit the deck and it looks like he might have broken his collar bone.
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Michael Matthews speaks: “First day we went very well, other than Alaphilippe darting up the road,” he told Eurosport before the start of today’s stage. “I expected a little bit more out of myself yesterday but I guess I went a bit deeper on Stage One than I thought I did. I still tried everything up to the final time up the Mur de Bretagne but just didn’t have the legs.
“Every day in a Grand Tour I seem to get better and better. The harder I push myself through the day the better I am the next day. Hopefully that’s true today. Hopewfully yesterday was just a bad day.”
149km to go: Torrential rain continues to bounce off the road as assorted riders reach for their waterproof jackets. The gap is 2min 18sec.
153km to go: Thomas De Gendt is towing the bunch along, with his Lotto Soudal teammates and the riders of Arnaud Demare’s Groupama-FDJ outfit up at the front.
155km to go: It is hammering down with rain as the breakaway group maintain a gap of around 2min 30sec from the bunch. It is unlikely to cause too many problems before the finish, but could cause havoc if the roads are wet when the peloton negotiates the technical finish.
King of the Mountains: There are two Category Four speed bumps on today’s stage, with one King of the Mountain point on offer at each. If Ide Schelling takes both he’ll earn the polka dot jersey on merit.
161km to go: The gap is 2min 41sec on what could be a long afternoon of uneventfulness until we get to within 15 kilometres or so of the finish.
Team BikeExchange: The Australian outfit formerly known as Mitchelton Scott are renowned for their social media output, which includes a daily Tour diary. Here’s yesterday’s offering, which features a rather morose Michael “Bling” Matthews.
165km to go: Our five-man breakaway group have stretched their lead to three minutes.
More on Bennett’s absence: Deceuninck–Quick-Step manager Patrick Lefevere has been scathing in his criticism of the Irishman, with whom he has an increasingly fractious relationship. He insists that Bennett could have started the Tour if he wanted to and accused his rider of having “a fear of failure” and being “afraid to tell the truth”. Bennett is expected to leave Deceuninck–Quick-Step at the end of the season, ending a two-year association with the team.
173km to go: Mark Cavendish will be hoping to notch up his 31st Tour de France stage win and it would be quite the fairytale if the 36-year-old Deceuninck–Quick-Step could do so. He was a late call-up to this year’s Tour, following the withdrawal of Sam Bennett with a knee injury.
“I wouldn’t be here if I wasn’t going to try and sprint,” Cavendish told Cycling Weekly. “These days riders try to push away expectations but I hate to do that even if I have to sometimes. I’m a racer and will always be a racer, and will always try to win. Nobody can say I don’t try at what I do.”
175km to go: Jelle Wallays (Cofidis), Michael Schar (AG2R-Citroën), Ide Schelling (Bora-Hansgrohe), Maxime Chevalier and Cyril Barthe (B&B-KTM) have opened a lead of 2min 06sec. Showing uncharacteristic restraint, Thomas De Gendt hasn’t joined today’s breakaway as he’ll be keeping his powder dry to help his teammate Caleb Ewan in the sprint.
Racing has begun: The peloton have let a group of five escapees break away, among them Ide Schelling, who will be hoping to hoover up the few King of the Mountains points on offer.
The Stage 3 roll-out begins
189km to go: The riders begin their gentle meander out of Lorient, with racing not scheduled to begin for another six kilometres. They are led by the main jersey wearers, with Ide Schelling, the Dutch Bora Hansgrohe wearing the King of the Mountains jersey because its rightful holder, his compatriot Mathiu van der Poel is in yellow for the first time in his career.
Caleb Ewan speaks: The Lotto Soudal sprinter is the hot favourite to win today’s stage. “It should be the first sprint opportunity,” he tells Eurosport. “It’s going to be quite technical in the last part. Narrow roads, I think it’s going to be raining so it will be nice for you guys to watch on TV but probably not so nice to race.
“I’ve told my team positioning is everything in that last part. If I’m too far back there it’s going to be super hard to move back up. I’ll probably try to use guys a bit early, make sure I’m in a good position. If I’m left by myself I can find my way but at least I’ll be in the position that I need to be in.”
More on today’s stage: “Pontivy is actually just a fifteen minutes drive away from Mûr-de-Bretagne where Mathieu van der Poel took his first Maillot Jaune in the name of his grand-father Raymond Poulidor,” according to the Tour de France website.
“Stage 3 is very different from the first two of the 108th Tour de France. It’s a long visit of the Morbihan department soon to be headed by the president of the Union Cycliste Internationale David Lappartient, starting from Lorient, the town of the Jean-Yves Le Drian French Minister of Europe and Foreign Affairs.
“It’s a land of politicians who love cycling. The course makes a little detour through Radenac, the village of Jean Robic who won the 1947 Tour de France. Moreover, it’s the first stage that definitely suits the sprinters. Caleb Ewan, Arnaud Démare, Mark Cavendish, Tim Merlier, Jasper Philipsen, Wout van Aert, Peter Sagan, Mads Pedersen, André Greipel, Nacer Bouhanni and Bryan Coquard have ambitions to win in Pontivy where a technical run-in awaits them.”
On Saturday's cardboard sign carnage ...
“It is reasonable to assume that the spectator whose cardboard sign caused the mass crash on stage one of this year’s Tour de France had never been to a bike race before,” writes Jeremy Whittle.
“It’s almost certain too, that she won’t ever go to a bike race again – that’s if she ever feels able to appear in public. French police are still scouring north-west France for the spectator concerned.” Read on ...
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Stage 3: Lorient to Pontivy (182.9km)
From Will Fotheringham’s stage by stage guide: The first routine stage, with more nods to Brittany’s cycling past and present. The start close to Barguil’s home town of Hennebont will draw plenty of “Wawa” fans, and the route travels down the coast to Carnac of stone row fame, then passes Plumelec and the Cadoudal hill, a celebrated local race venue. A bunch sprint finish looks inevitable; Mark Cavendish returns to the Tour with Deceuninck-QuickStep after Sam Bennett was ruled out through injury, with Australia’s Caleb Ewan a big rival for stage wins and favourite for the green jersey.
