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Peter Sagan secures another day in 2016 Tour de France yellow

  • Ron 

After a bittersweet victory for the team yesterday with Peter Sagan winning and taking the team’s first yellow jersey while GC leader Alberto Contador lost time after another heavy fall, stage 3 was a much steadier affair. Leaving the northern coastal region behind – along with its punishing wind and rain – the Tour de France made its way south for the second longest stage. In spite of the efforts of a lone breakaway, the gruelling distance took its toll and the predicted bunch sprint to the line took place. After protecting his yellow jersey and doing his role as race leader proud, Peter contested the sprint and was unlucky not to add to his stage win tally, taking fourth in a hotly-contested finish in Angers.

After two days in Normandy, the Tour de France left the northern coast and headed inland. Starting in Granville, the peloton made its way nearly due south to the city of Angers, where the finish, in spite of a slight ramp to the line, was made for the sprinters. One of the longest stages of this year’s Tour, at 223.5km, the question was who would still have the legs to contest the sprint after a long day’s racing.

While there was only one categorised climb – the fourth category Côte de Villedieu-les-Poêles – a gentle 4.4%, 1.5km ascent, the rest of the stage – especially the 60km immediately following the climb of the day, was undulating, and was bound to sap the energy reserves of the riders.

The day saw an early breakaway, however only one rider went from the start of the stage. With such a long day ahead, a solo breakaway was going to have difficulty staying up the road for the full distance, yet after a short time, the gap was out to almost six minutes, extending that advantage to more than eleven minutes after only 40km of racing.

This would be the most the gap would amount to, as the yellow jersey holder, Peter Sagan, gently raised the pace in the peloton with the support of his Tinkoff teammates. While the lone breakaway rider was joined by another from 80km out, the peloton started closing the gap, quickly reducing their advantage from five minutes to around a minute with 30km remaining. After a fairly gentle first half of the stage, the pace went up to 45km/h for the second half as once again the sprint teams started to work to bring their rider into position.

The team’s approach today was two-pronged – to protect the yellow jersey of Peter Sagan, but also to ensure Alberto Contador was kept safe in the bunch to support his recovery and help him to heal, as Sport Director, Steven De Jongh, explained. “It was quite a steady stage today, tranquillo. We’re lucky that today there were no crashes for us and we could go through the motions. That is firstly the main thing as yesterday was a big impact for Alberto and we knew that he would be hurting this morning. The plan was to defend the jersey but with one guy out the front that made they job fairly easy and we also had some help from the other sprint teams. So it was quite easy to control and close the gap so that was good for us.”

After such a long time out ahead, even having been joined by a second rider, the break was starting to fade. After riding alone for 200km, that hard effort was starting to show as the gap dropped first to 50” and then down to 20” with 15km remaining. While the peloton wouldn’t want to make the catch too soon, it was certain that the day wouldn’t be taken by the break, and with 8km to go, the catch was made and it was all on for the sprint finish.

As the remaining kilometres ticked by, the pace rose exponentially to furious levels. In spite of the ramp up to the finish, the fast men wanted to go for the win and their trains dominated the roads of Angers. Once again surfing the wheels of the other teams, the UCI World Champion kept his rivals in his sights as the peloton stretched out, but on the final bend he was caged in by the other teams and in spite of a strong sprint where he jumped several places, was just beaten to the line, taking fourth position. Keeping yellow after today’s result, the Slovakian rider will start his second day in the Maillot Jaune tomorrow.

While Peter was unlucky not to take the win, he was pleased with the way the race unfolded, and to have been in a position to contest the sprint after a long, hard day. “It was a long day, 220km – we did the first part very slow then the last 20km got very interesting. I’m very happy to not crash and hold the yellow jersey, which was my goal. For sure I have to try also for the points for the sprint. The finish was again crazy but that’s sprinting. Everybody wanted to be at the front – but I’m here with yellow still in one piece so that’s already nice.”

Today was the race’s second longest stage; tomorrow is the longest. The 237.5km route is both long and punishing with a parcours that from the 140km point rises steadily upwards, taking in a fourth category climb on the way. Cresting at 210km, it’s downhill to the finish in Limoges with just the slightest kick up to the finish. A breakaway is a certainty, but will they be able to stay out in front on such a long and demanding stage?

For De Jongh, the plan from today carries over into tomorrow. “Tomorrow it will be a case of doing the same again, looking after Alberto so he can continue to recover and then we will see what we can do with Peter for the sprint, but we take it day by day.”

Going into the longest day with the yellow jersey, Peter was keen to do the Maillot Jaune justice and keep it safe, while also giving the finish his best shot. “Tomorrow is another sprint so I’ll try again and I will see day by day how long I can hold on to the jersey.”

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