Tour de France 2014: Stage 3 Preview

German sprinter Andre Greipel (Lotto Belisol) comes out on top in Oman

Stage details

Distance: 155km

Category: Flat

Highest point: 108m

The final day in the United Kingdom brings the riders down to the capital, scene of the country's last Grand Départ. The short 155-kilometre trip from Cambridge to London will give the riders a chance to see a bit more of the country, before they head back to France. It is the flattest of the three days in Britain and will almost certainly end in a bunch sprint. Also, after a tough stage 2, it will be a chance for the GC riders to take things a little easier.

As the stage reaches the finish the course will take in some of the most iconic sights of London. It passes through Stratford, riding by the Olympic stadium, then along the River Thames, before finishing on The Mall, in front of Buckingham palace.

This London thoroughfare has become a regular for the peloton in recent years, most notably at the Olympic Games when Alexander Vinokourov beat Rigoberto Urán to victory. It's unlikely that a breakaway will be able to make it stick on this stage, but we've seen at previous races that you can’t count your chickens too early.

Arnaud Démare has previous here too, after winning the inaugural Prudential RideLondon ahead of Sacha Modolo. However, he'll have much tougher competition here from Mark Cavendish, Marcel Kittel and André Greipel.

Haimar Zubeldia says... "It's the beginning of the Tour so for sure there's going to be stress, crashes and mess. There will be roundabouts to avoid and, like other teams, we will try to avoid risks and be safe. I guess, if we go with a sprinter, we'll help him out and get some results."

Local History

Stage three of the Tour de France will be the fourth big race finish on the Mall in as many years. The first in this run was the London-Surrey classic in 2011, which worked as the test event for the Olympic road race that would follow 12 months later. Mark Cavendish won on that day, beating a certain Sacha Modolo who would find himself in the same position two years later.