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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UCI Gravel World Series - Petr Vakoč and Tessa Neefjes sprint to victory at The Gralloch
Scotland's round delivers tight run wins with defending champion Matthew Holmes second in men's elite and Ffion Gilbert claiming women's elite runner-up spot -
'We didn't want the leader's jersey' - Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe say loss of Primoz Roglič's Giro d'Italia lead was intentional
Giro favourite's team management explains stage 8 strategy as Roglič drops to third -
'Before the Giro d'Italia, I would give him five stars' – Tom Pidcock's team less bullish for gravel stage victory after Briton's poor mountain performance
'It's the roads he likes to race on, in line with off-road, and a really nice mix up' says coach Kurt Bogaerts -
2025 Giro d'Italia stage 9 preview – Can GC teams survive brutal gravel day as Strade Bianche rejoins Grand Tour arena?
May 18, 2025: Gubbio-Siena - 29.5km of white off-road sectors line 181km stage on spectacular closing day of the 108th Corsa Rosa's first week
