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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As it happened: Swiss star delivers explosive victory after hectic run-in on stage 1 of La Vuelta Femenina
The opening day of racing at La Vuelta Femenina featured a 113km route from Maín to Salvaterra de Miño. -
Vuelta Femenina stage 1: Noemi Rüegg storms uphill sprint to beat Kopecky and Koch to first leader's jersey
Swiss star delivers a searing sprint at the end of a tricky and rainy opening day in Spain -
'How cool that The Traka 200 was won because of skill and not watts per kilo' – Sofia Gómez Villafañe hopes to inspire youngsters to work on bike handling
Gravel star takes pride in fact that winning move took shape on an early descent -
Tour of Turkey: Sebastian Berwick seals overall title as Tom Crabbe triples up with uphill sprint on final stage
Race ends with a punishing uphill sprint in Ankara
