Tour de France Stage 3: Dumoulin Wins & Feillu Also Grins
French fans will remember the third stage of the 2008 Tour de France with fondness. It was a day when their riders won the stage and also inherited the yellow jersey. Escapes, we are reminded, can succeed and the perennially aggressive Samuel Dumoulin finally earned a victory after four years of trying. It was the finishing touch to a stage dominated by four men: Dumoulin, the runner-up William Frisckhorn, Roman Feillu and Paolo Longo Borghini. The escape’s instigator was awarded the most aggressive rider prize but the third-placed Feillu earned a greater prize: the yellow jersey in his second Tour de France.The Progress Report
The official start time of the third stage was 12.31pm. There were 179 riders at the sign on that was conducted under clear skies although the conditions deteriorated: wind and rain would be a feature of the stage. In the first kilometer, four riders - Feillu (AGR), Dumoulin (COF), Longho Borghini (BAR) and Frischkorn (TSL) – established an escape. By the 5km mark, they were 1’40” ahead of the peloton and the advantage group quickly.At the first sprint, Dumoulin claimed first ahead of Longo Borghini and Feillu. They were 6’55” ahead of the peloton. At the 28km mark, he peloton was at 8’40”. The average speed for the first hour was 39.9km/h. Caisse d’Epargne controlled the peloton and was content to watch the advantage grow: 36km – 10’30”; 40km – 11’20”; 55km – 12’55”; 60km – 13’50”; 66km 14’50”… this was the maximum gain and the catalyst to prompt two riders from the Columbia team began to chase. The average speed for the second hour was 35.1km/h.
Pushing On With Escape
With 100km to go, the peloton was led by riders from Columbia as well as Credit Agricole, Liquigas and Bouygues Telecom, and the deficit had dropped to 10’00”. The average speed for the third hour was 38.2km/h. With 70km to go FDJ also joined in the chase.With 57km to go in the stage, protestors spilled onto the road. The four escapees managed to squeeze through a small gap on the right of the road and Christian Prudhomme attempted to negotiate a clear passage for the peloton. An accord was struck by the race director and the bunch suffered no interruption. The deficit was down to 6’45” at that point.
