Chavanel takes stage and yellow in Spa

Image 1 of 108

Spa is Belgium's home of speed - the city's world-renowned motor racing circuit has hosted daring feats over the decades - and there was plenty of bravado during today's 201km journey from Brussels to the Wallonne region, so it was fitting that a man known for his bravado take line honours.

Quick Step's Sylvain Chavanel put in what will likely be one of the best performances of the this year's Tour de France - on just the third day of the event - to win in Spa and put himself in the maillot jaune ahead of the race's entry to French soil, which will come during tomorrow's stage to Porte du Hainaut.

The peloton, coming in nearly four minutes behind, failed to fulfil the city's need for speed, instead staging a 'go-slow' protest to the line after most of the race favourites crashed on the slippery descent with 30km to go.

Chavanel: "My most beautiful day on the bike"

Having spent much of the day in a break, Lady Luck finally shone on Chavanel, who has experienced a terrible run of fortune thus far in 2010. He hung tough at crucial moments in the stage and when he was thrown a moment of opportunity - another significant crash in the peloton - he took it like the proverbial dog with a bone and capitalised with a magnificent victory.

A fractured skull suffered during this year's Liège-Bastogne-Liège had been the highlight of Chavanel's season for all the wrong reasons but today's stage win will go a long way to rectifying the misfortunes suffered in what has been a fairly forgettable 2010 thus far for the affable Frenchman.

After the stage, Sylvain Chavanel was ecstatic at his double strike. "The wheel is always turning. I have had so much bad luck, so many times. I've been caught a kilometre, two kilometres from the line. That's life. I've learned from it. This is my most beautiful day on the bike."

"20km from the line, I knew that I had a great chance of winning the stage, but I wasn't thinking of the yellow jersey. I only knew I'd take the yellow jersey 5km from the line."

As for his defence of the jersey, Chavanel said, "Now I want to keep it until Paris! [laughs] No, I just want to keep it as long as possible. It's something that I don't want to let pass by. I have a reasonable chance [of keeping the jersey] as far as Rousses, why not?"

The peloton's neutralising of the sprint behind did little to detract from his day, however. "That's part of racing, but it doesn't take from my victory. It's something that I don't understand."

Thor Hushovd (Cervelo) was considerably more upset by the decision not to sprint. "I feel frustrated by what happened today. Our team was working hard and we would have had a good chance for victory. I feel like they have taken something away from us today. There were a few sprinters who did not make it to the front group, but there was no reason to not contest the sprint today. Everyone made a gentleman's agreement not to sprint, but I lost an important opportunity to try to win the stage and gain points."

His teammate Jeremy Hunt was similarly frustrated. "We pulled at the front all day. We all managed to get through. It was just chaos. In the end, they didn't want to sprint. I cannot understand why."

Other riders found the conditions more troublesome, however. "It was like skating on ice, and the bike was uncontrollable," said Alberto Contador.

Meanwhile, Milram leader Linus Gerdeman defended the peloton's decision. "That wasn't a strike. With this action we wanted to show our solidarity with the many crash victims."

Andy Schleck was glad of such solidarity after his torrid descent of the Stockeu. "I fell twice in 200 metres, I couldn't really control the bike. I thank everybody for the fair play shown, and I think it can be said that fair play won today."

The points jersey passed to Chavanel, but Alessandro Petacchi (Lampre) will be consoled by being able to keep wearing his green outfit as the runner up in the classification.

If at first you don't succeed...

The day's breakaway, instigated by Chavanel, made its way off the front of the peloton after 17 of the day's 201 kilometres. Quick Step's mercurial Frenchman was joined by countryman and teammate Jérôme Pineau in a group of eight that settled in for the long haul with 179km to ride.

The other members of the escaping octet were Omega Pharma-Lotto riders Matthew Lloyd and Jürgen Roelandts, Marcus Burghardt (BMC Racing), Sebastien Turgot (Bbox Bouygues Telecom), Rein Taaramae (Cofidis) and Francesco Gavazzi (Lampre-Farnese Vini).

With 167km remaining the gap had grown to 4:25, but seemingly in control by the peloton. The catch in theory would be a mere formality as some undulating terrain toward the finish offered plenty of territory for the peloton to flex its muscles. Pineau, Taaramae and Lloyd were fighting amongst each other for the mountains points on offer while the big guns behind negotiated wet Belgian roads as the race made its way further south.

A crash of portent came in the peloton with just under 60km remaining, as Mickäel Delage (Omega Pharma-Lotto) and Julian Dean (Garmin-Transitions) came off, their battered bikes and bodies sitting on the side of the road. And after yesterday's shenanigans, a sense of déjà vu pervaded amongst observers. But more of that a little later...

Meanwhile, on the Côte de Aissomont, the break began to splinter as it hit the Wallonian hills, with Turgot and Lloyd contemplating life back in the peloton, a thought that became reality several kilometres later when, with 40km to go, the Franco-Australian duo was caught as the pace increased amongst the big hitters in the main bunch.

The Côte de Stockeu, next on the list of côtes on the menu, was Roelandts' time to make a move. Joined by Chavanel he tried his luck, although it was the Frenchman who made the most of the confusion in the break, which had disintegrated by this point in time.

And while the ascent of the Stockeu offered the perfect place for a pent up peloton to pounce, with only Chavanel and a labouring Roelandts offering any meaningful resistance, what was in store on its descent was the trump card the Frenchman had been hoping for.

Myriad splits opened in the bunch courtesy of crashes that followed a spill from Gavazzi, who had hitherto been amongst the eight escapees; the likes of Andy Schleck, Christian Vande Velde and Alessandro Petacchi all came down hard, the latter two eventually rolling into the finish many minutes down on the front group, making it a day to forget for the Italian who had experienced the heights the Tour has to offer just 24 hours earlier.

Andy Schleck looked dazed after the crash, but after being given a bike by teammate Matti Breschel, he remounted and set about chasing back to his teammates.

"We knew that crashes were unavoidable so we tried to set the pace at the front of the pack but the surface was simply as slippery as soap and bikes and motor bikes were scattered everywhere in the chaos on the descent," said Saxo Bank manager Bjarne Riis.

For a second consecutive day, the teams of the general classification favourites were performing rapid roll calls to determine where their big names were. Three distinct groups emerged on the road behind Chavanel, who continued his run ahead unabated: Jens Voigt worked his legs to the bone in order to get the brothers Schleck back to a group boasting the likes of Lance Armstrong and Alberto Contador, who had managed to escape the carnage relatively untouched. Ahead, the group of yellow jersey Cancellara kept the pace under control to allow the Schlecks to rejoin.

Today was all about Chavanel, however, who increased his lead at the head of proceedings to an insurmountable margin nearing three minutes, and with less than 20km remaining it appeared that southern Belgium was going to be a more fruitful hunting ground than his last outing on these roads. His solo win was confirmation of this, with a well-savoured celebration exorcising the demons of several months ago.

Behind him the peloton, controlled by Fabian Cancellara, finished en masse with no sprint, apparently in protest at the day's route, which was perceived as dangerous by the big names of the race. It ended what was another eventful stage for all the wrong reasons but with a memorable result to take into the event's homeland tomorrow.

And now for something completely different

Putting a lighter spin on what was another serious day on the Tour, the first of this year's Cyclingnews Tour de France 'stage awards' are presented to:

'Mr Perpetual Motion' - Sylvain Chavanel, who showed what it means to be a baroudeur and go for broke, even with only a faint hope of winning something.
'Mr Tough' - Andy Schleck, who demonstrated that skinny guys can hang tough with the best of them and not every fall results in a broken collarbone.
'Mr Unlucky' - Christian Vande Velde, who managed to lack a shred of luck once again and came down in the day's main crash ,finishing a long way behind the other general classification favourites.
'Mr Diplomacy' - Fabian Cancellara, who organised what appeared to be a show of rider solidarity seemingly about the stage's conditions.

Stage 3: Wanze - Arenberg Porte du Hainaut 213km

Here come the cobbles

After a nod to Liège-Bastogne-Liège today, Tour organisers ASO pay homage to another race in their portfolio by taking the field over several of the cobbled sections from Paris-Roubaix. There are 13.2km of pavé hell for the riders to deal with in seven separate sections. The last four are in France and particularly nasty, the final one just 10km from the finish.

It’s been six years since the Tour last encountered the cobbles. Back in 2004 the hopes of principal Spanish contender Iban Mayo were blown away in the dust. The sylph-like Alberto Contador will be hoping he doesn’t suffer the same fate. The finish is at the entrance to Roubaix’s infamous Arenberg Forest.

Full results

Scott Sunderland's stage analysis:

There is a lot of debate about if the riders in the peloton did the right thing by waiting for the riders who had crashed and then protesting about the conditions. I can understand both sides of the argument and trying to analyze what happened is like walking a tightrope.

As a former rider I can understand the solidarity the riders showed and the fears they had about the conditions. I was involved in a nasty crash that almost ended my career - I was hit by a team car during a race - so I always feel it in my bones and my stomach turns when riders go down. Yet watching the race as a spectator, I can understand that people feel they were deprived of seeing some great racing.

It's not easy to say who is right or wrong. Personally I think the riders were right to wait after the crash but they should have contested sprint at the finish. No points were awarded at the finish and I hope that doesn’t affects who eventually wins the points jersey in Paris.

Some riders have criticized the race organiser ASO, but I think they're wrong. ASO are always very careful about safety. The descent and roads covered during the stage are all used in other races. Teams and riders had plenty of time to study then in the spring.

The riders have to remember that they're racing on public roads. I feel for them but they also have to toughen up a little. Some of them need some cement in their breakfast cereal.

It will now be interesting to see what happens on the cobbles on stage three. Who knows, perhaps the riders who didn't crash today, will go down tomorrow. Cycling is not held in a controlled environment like a football stadium and the unpredictability and the inherent risks are in many ways, what makes cycling so thrilling to watch and so unique as a sport.

I hope nobody crashes on the sections of pave and that we have a great day of bike racing and most of all a deserved winner.