4 Jours de Dunkerque / Tour du Nord-pas-de-Calais 2011 : Stage 3 As It Happened

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Welcome to the third day of the Four Days of Dunkirk. Will Marcel Kittel be able to make it a hat-trick today?

2011-05-06T13:32:48Z

Day three of four! Actually, third of five! Lots of action today.

2011-05-06T13:37:19Z

35km remaining from 171km

With 35km to go, we have a six-man break group with just about two minutes on the field.

2011-05-06T13:38:18Z

Remy Cusin (Cofidis), Anders Lund (Leopard Trek), Andy Cappelle (Quick Step), Cyril Bessy (Saur SojaSun), Mathieu Claude (Europcar) and Anthony Colin (Roubaix Lille Metropole) form the escape group.

2011-05-06T13:46:36Z

29km remaining from 171km

Katusha, Vacansoleil and Leopard Trek are leading the chase.

2011-05-06T13:48:08Z

Oops, let's make that 25km to go and 1:05.

2011-05-06T13:49:48Z

Colin has won at least two of the four mountain rankings today, giving him the overall lead in that category.

2011-05-06T13:51:35Z

Cappelle, Cusin and Claude are now alone in the lead, with a one-minute gap. The other three have been caught by the field.

2011-05-06T13:58:00Z

15km remaining from 171km

1:10 now for the leading trio, with Skil-Shimano and Topsport Vlaanderen leading the chase.

2011-05-06T14:02:04Z

The three are doing their best, but the gap is starting to come down and is now under a minute.

2011-05-06T14:04:15Z

Everything indicates that we will have another mass sprint today. Will Skil-Shimano's Marcel Kittel be able to make it three in a row?

2011-05-06T14:06:30Z

9km remaining from 171km

The three still have about a minute.

2011-05-06T14:08:03Z

Now down to 40 seconds.....

2011-05-06T14:12:28Z

4km remaining from 171km

Katusha turned up the speed and the gap is now only 25 seconds.

2011-05-06T14:14:22Z

3km remaining from 171km

These three guys really want to come through to the end! They still have 20 seconds.

2011-05-06T14:14:46Z

Flamme Rouge!

2011-05-06T14:15:13Z

And the break was caught before the last km. The sprint is underway!

2011-05-06T14:15:45Z

Kittel! He does it again!

2011-05-06T14:16:08Z

What a race this young German is having!

2011-05-06T14:21:31Z

Yauheni Hutarovich of FDJ took second, with Katusha's Denis Galimzyanov claiming third.

2011-05-06T14:23:43Z

Here are our standings:

1 Marcel Kittel (Ger) Skil - Shimano
2 Yauheni Hutarovich (Blr) FDJ
3 Denis Galimzyanov (Rus) Katusha Team

General classification after stage 3
1 Marcel Kittel (Ger) Skil - Shimano

2011-05-06T14:26:14Z

That's it for today. Thanks for reading along.