Finishing in the town of Tours, home to the finish of the late-season Paris-Tours race, stage 3 is another stage tailor-made for the sprinters. Another chance for McEwen et al to show they can make light work of three approximately 1km, Cat 4 climbs and three intermediate sprints to take the stage victory. The two later climbs, at 161.5km and 179.5km should make the selection for those contesting the sprint come 5 o'clock. The last time Tours hosted a stage was in 2000, and it welcomes the Tour back with a probable exciting sprint finish. This is a stage very well suited to a sprinter such as Fassa's Alessandro Petacchi; but without the presence of Ale Jet at this year's Tour, and a number of sprinters on song, look to riders such as Baden Cooke to stamp their authority on the early stages after a mostly forgettable couple of seasons since winning the green jersey in 2003.
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Defending champions Matt Beers and Sofia Gomez Villafañe dominate at Belgian Waffle Ride California
'Matt Beers was the cat and I was his ball of yarn' reflects men's runner up Peter Stetina -
UCI Gravel World Series - Crystal Anthony and Skyler Taylor win Highlands Gravel Classic
Runner-up spots claimed by Jenna Rinehart and Tim McBirney in first of two American qualifying events -
‘The last kilometre was just a little too much’ - Lotte Kopecky takes fifth at Liège-Bastogne-Liège after dropping on Roche-aux-Faucons climb
'I think it is a race that I can win in the future but just not this year' says world champion who now turns attention to Tour de France Femmes -
Tour of the Gila: Galen Bolard and Eric Brunner win stage 4 bunch sprint
Lauren Stephens and Keiran Haug retain race lead after penultimate stage
