Tour de France 2016: Stage 3

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January 1 - July 24, Granville, France, Road - WorldTour

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Welcome to live coverage of stage 3 of the 2016 Tour de France from Granville to Angers.

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Giro Rosa: Stevens wins stage 2 in Montenars

The caravan has just rolled out of town, which can only mean one thing, we're not too far away from the start of today's stage. 40 minutes to be exact. 

After yesterday's uphill finish, today's stage should be one for the pure sprinters. That's not to say it's straight forward, with a small ramp to the line that could catch some out. 

This is what the riders can look forward to today, one of the longest stages of this year's race. 

Before the riders set off, let's recap a few things from yesterday. Peter Sagan claimed his first Tour victory in two years and with it went into yellow. This is how yesterday finished.

This is the complexion of the GC this morning. In theory, yellow should be safe for Sagan for another day but this is the Tour de France and anything can happen. 

You can see Sagan's team boss Oleg Tinkov celebrating that win and yellow jersey in his own unique style as captured by the press tent by our very own Stephen Farrand.

Here is that yellow jersey. So fresh and new that the tag is still on it.

Marcel Kittel missed out on day one, he'll be keen to rectify that in Angers.

Angers used to be a regular stage finish at the Tour de France but not so much in recent years. The last time the a race finished there was 2004 when Tom Boonen beat Stuart O'Grady and Erik Zabel to the stage win. 

The riders are off for today's stage. They are making their way through the neutralised section and we should have racing just before midday. 

This is Orica-BikeExchange's Adam Yates talking to fellow countryman Dan McLay on the start line. McLay is making his debut at the Tour de France this year and could be a wildcard in today's sprint finish. 

Note that Adam Yates is wearing a skinsuit in that image. He will be looking to help his teammate Michael Matthews take the stage win today. 

There are several riders who are in with a chance of victory today. We've mentioned a few and we'll run through some more throughout the stage but we also want to hear who you think will win. You can tweet us on @Cyclingnewsfeed or @SadhbhOS and we'll show some of your predictions here. 

 

Meanwhile, the flag has dropped for racing proper. Despite some serious looking crashes in the opening weekend, all 198 riders have signed off and departed for Angers. 

There has been a very early break. Fortuneo-Vetal Concept's Armindo Fonseca has a big gap on the peloton. It's a long way to go on your own though. 

8km remaining from 223km

There is just one categorised climb on today's route. That is the fourth category Côte de Villedieu-les-Poêles. With only one point available at the top there is not enough for Fonseca to overhaul the Jasper Stuyven's four-point advantage. The Belgian, should he finish today's stage, is secure in that polka-dot jersey for another day. 

One rider that will be hoping for a much less eventful day will be Alberto Contador. The Tinkoff rider crashed heavily on stage one and was then involved in another fall yesterday, where he landed on the same injured shoulder. He ended up losing time in the lumpy finish to boot. 

 

The gap to Fonseca is growing rapidly. The Fortuneo rider has 5:50 on the bunch now. 

Before we do hit the top of that one and only climb, this is how the mountains classification looks. 

After losing time yesterday, Mark Cavendish swapped yellow for green. He is just keeping it warm for Sagan, who leads the classification.

This is the points classification as of this morning. 

198km remaining from 223km

The one classification that we haven't looked at yet is the young rider's classification. Julian Alaphilippe is in control of that but he has some strong riders snapping at his heels in Kelderman, Yates and Barguil. 

An updated time check now has Fonseca at 11:05 over the peloton after just 25km. There is no interest in the peloton to chase with still 184km to the finish. 

On-board footage has been getting bigger in professional cycling and this year the Tour de France organisers have been giving us live on-board footage. You can find highlights of that footage here, including images of Contador's second crash in as many days. 

Jasper Stuyven in the polka-dot jersey talking to the press before the start. No polka-dot shorts thankfully. 

The average speed for Fonseca over the first hour of racing was 38.4kph. 

183km remaining from 223km

The official race feed reports that Direct Energie are wearing black arm bands in honour of the former Vendee U rider Romain Guyot who died during a training accident in March of this year. Guyot, who was 23, was from today's finish town of Angers. 

After 44km, the gap to Fonseca is still tumbling down. It is now down to 7:50.

Today's stage will pass near the home town of breakaway rider Fonseca. Vitre, which the peloton passes through at the 117km mark, is just 30 minutes down the road from Fonseca's home of Rennes. Rennes is also the base for Fonseca's team Fortuneo-Vital Concept, double the reason to make it into today's break. AG2R La Mondiale rider Maxime Daniel, who is not competing at the Tour, is also from Rennes. 

The peloton continues to claw back the gap to Fonseca. He now has just 6:25 on the bunch. 

Chris Froome is sitting just 14 seconds off the top of the standings after the opening weekend. Cyclingnews spoke to him this morning before the riders rolled out of Granville. You can read his full comments here.

151km remaining from 223km

Remember you can give us your own race predictions on twitter via @Cyclingnewsfeed or @SadhbhOS. 

As we mentioned earlier, Tom Boonen was the victor when the Tour de France last had a stage finish in Angers in 2004. Boonen avoided a crash in the final kilometre to beat Stuart O'Grady in the sprint. That was Boonen's first ever stage win at the Tour de France and the first of two in that year's race. 

Andre Greipel is a prolific Grand Tour stage winner and almost always wins at least one stage. The last time that he entered a Grand Tour and failed to win a stage was the 2007 Vuelta a Espana. So that's 10 consecutive Grand Tours with at least one win. He dominated the sprints in last year's Tour de France with four victories including one on the Champs Elysees. This season, he claimed three at the Giro d'Italia before calling it a day ahead of stage 13. 

Fonseca's pace has dropped - he covered a modest 30km in the second hour of racing. 

148km remaining from 223km

The riders are, rather slowly, making their way south and have now entered the Brittany region of France - home region of Fonseca and his team. 

Fonseca takes on some food before taking on some undulating roads into Fougères. His lead has dropped to 5:15.

Here's a shot of our gallant breakaway man enjoying a downhill stretch - pic from former pro and French TV pundit Cedric Vasseur

The peloton has just passed through Fougères where Mark Cavendish won his single victory of last year's race. The 26th Tour de France stage of his career. 

Mark Cavendish increased his number of stage wins to 27 with his victory on day one and he could bump that up by another in Angers today. We spoke to him this morning about his prospects  in Angers. 

123km remaining from 223km

Before taking the start in Granville this morning German sprinter Marcel Kittel (Etixx-QuickStep) spoke to the press about.

The riders are not yet at the halfway point and the average speed is still ticking along at a relatively sedate pace of 33kph. This means that they are still well behind the slowest predicted time schedule. They're almost 30 minutes down on that slow schedule. 

Lawson Craddock is making his debut at the Tour de France with Cannondale-Drapac. He says the first two days have been as crazy as he expected. 

Peter Sagan is looking comfortable in his yellow jersey. He's up near the front chatting and joking with his teammates. 

Elsewhere, Chloe Hosking has won Stage 3 of the Giro Rosa. That's the second win for Wiggle-High5 in this year's race. 

Mark Cavendish is in the green jersey today but he's actually sitting second in the overall classification. He has won it in the past but says that it will be tough to end Peter Sagan's run of victories in that competition. 

We have now passed the halfway point of today's stage and after dipping below three minutes, Fonseca's gap has grown out again. It's not much, though, at just 3:17.

There's no polka-dot shorts or bike for Jasper Stuyven today but he has made his own polka-dot shoes. InCycle's Rose Manley took this picture of his Bontrager shoes with the red dots put on with a marker pen.

104km remaining from 223km

Fonseca is distancing the peloton again as the pace eases up. He has more than four minutes on the bunch. The peloton will be happy to let him burn himself out up there for a little while longer before they consider the bunch finish. 

If you missed the news yesterday, Giant-Alpecin confirmed that they have a new sponsor for next season and they will make the announcement on the first rest day next Monday. You can read the full story here. 

Fonseca's advantage is growing still and he has 4:23. He started the day at 3:06 behind Peter Sagan so is therefore the virtual leader for the moment. He's still got 94km to the finish, however.

93km remaining from 223km

Stage one winner, Mark Cavendish says that timing your sprint right will be key in today's finish.

87km remaining from 223km

Without having t inject much pace, Voeckler has already distanced the peloton by two minutes. He is 3:35 behind our race leader Fonseca. 

Andre Greipel is one of the contenders for victory today, this is what he had to say this morning. 

80km remaining from 223km

If you were in any doubt of the relaxed atmosphere in the peloton today, here are some photos from today's start village. 

Voeckler going off the front has sparked some interest from the bunch. Lotto-Soudal and Etixx-QuickStep know that the Frenchman is a risk and have pulled the gap back a bit to 3:30. 

The pace is visibly much higher now as the peloton strings out in a long like. They're ticking along at 45kph, which is significantly faster than the average speed of the bunch.

Back in 2004 the Tour de France also had a stage finishing in Angers with a young Tom Boonen winning the bunch sprint. Jérôme Pineau finished in the top-10. This morning Cyclingnews talked with the recently retired Frenchman at the start about the finish. "It's not to be underestimated. It's slightly uphill. The final kilometres used to be very technical too but this time around it's easier," Pineau said. 

67km remaining from 223km

Bak's pace is doing some damage to this gap and the peloton are just 2:12 behind the two leaders.

Dimension Data has sent Daniel Teklehaimanot to the front of proceedings to help with the chase as Vermote also moves back up. We're getting to the pointy end of this stage. 

As we do get closer to the finish, don't forget to let us know your predictions. You can do that on twitter on @Cyclingnewsfeed or @SadhbhOS

There are several of potential victors today but the three that stand out most are Mark Cavendish, Andre Greipel and Marcel Kittel. Peter Sagan is not a pure sprinter but his victory on stage 2 shows that he is in great form and after winning in the rainbow jersey he would love to win in yellow.

In today's road book today's finish does not look too steep but it is a reasonable drag to the line and it could catch some people out. 

The leaders are approaching the intermediate sprint and they're only 1:18 ahead of the chasing pack now. 

Fonseca takes the breakaway through the intermediate sprint with little challenge. A minute later, the sprinters go head to head as a small preview of what we might expect at the finish. Kittel claims the points for second with Kiristoff just behind him. 

Fonseca takes the breakaway through the intermediate sprint with little challenge. A minute later, the sprinters go head to head as a small preview of what we might expect at the finish. Kittel claims the points for second with Kristoff just behind him.

Voeckler is trying to up the pace in the break but Fonseca is tiring after so long in front. The sprinter's teams have this at hand and it looks extremely unlikely that the leading pair will hold out. 

48km remaining from 223km

Yesterday, stage winner and new yellow jersey, Peter Sagan had a dig at riders not showing respect in the sprints. Bernhard Eisel agrees with the Slovakian, saying that the fight for position has become ridiculous. You can read his comments here. 

42km remaining from 223km

A nice picture of the peloton earlier on today.

37km remaining from 223km

Earlier, I mentioned a long list of riders that could be in contention in the sprint. One rider that wasn't mentioned but could still pose a threat is Greg Van Avermaet. The Belgian told Cyclingnews this morning that he might have a go as it wasn't a straightforward finish, which could help him get one over on the pure sprinters. 

Orica-BikeExchange teammates Michael Matthews and Simon Gerrans could also do something here. Matthews was their man yesterday but he could only manage fifth. 

Sam Bennett is sitting near the back of the peloton. He took a very hard tumble when Michael Morkov crashed in the stage one finale. The Bora-Argon 18 rider will be happy to make it through the next few stages and hopefully find some success a little later in the race. 

30km remaining from 223km

The GC teams such as Sky are making their presence felt near the front, as they try to keep their leaders safe. 

22km remaining from 223km

19km remaining from 223km

16km remaining from 223km

Contador and Froome are near the front of the peloton, trying to stay out of trouble. Contador has had a troubled first few days and he will want to make it through today without any more issues. 

14km remaining from 223km

11km remaining from 223km

Stephen Cummings is keeping himself out of trouble in his favoured position of the back of the bunch. 

10km remaining from 223km

The peloton can see the break now. Their day is all but done.

Orica and Katusha are making their first appearances on the front along with LottoNL-Jumbo as the two escapees are finally caught. 

Dylan Groenewegen has been sick in the past few days but he could do something in this finish. 

Direct Energie are being led to the front by Sylvain Chavanel, as they try to set up Bryan Coquard. 

6km remaining from 223km

There is some traffic furniture to navigate in this finish.

5km remaining from 223km

Navadauskas has dragged the Cannondale team up to the front.

4km remaining from 223km

3km remaining from 223km

Cancellara now on the front, working for Theuns.

2km remaining from 223km

Crash

1km remaining from 223km

1km remaining from 223km

The road rises up as they go under the flamme rouge

Greipel leads it out

Cavendish is in his wheel

Photo finish

That was a very close finish. He doesn't know if he's won yet as the media surrounds him.

A replay shows that Cavendish has got that on the bike throw by little more than a tyre's width. 

Greipel actually celebrated that but the confirmation has come through that it is Cavendish that has won the stage. My gosh that was so close. 

Kittel was well out of position in that sprint and he finished well down. Coquard edged out Sagan to take third place.

Cavendish is finally told about his result and says 'I can't believe it'

Confirmation of the results at the finish

That stage win means that Cavendish is equal with Hinault on 28 Tour de France stage wins. 

Cavendish has not looked his best through much of this year but his two victories show that he has found his form at just the right time. The Manxman has looked close to his former best in this opening week. 

This is Cavendish as he waited for confirmation of the stage result.

Confirmation of the general classification. Peter Sagan managed to hold onto his yellow jersey. 

Cavendish steps up onto the podium with his two children to accept the prize for being the stage winner. 

Mark Renshaw had this to say at the finish: "It’s working well, we won two stages but it’s not perfect. We have a limited team here, only five riders including Cavendish for the finish. Everybody knows their job. We have great riders in Edvald Boasson Hagen and Janse Van Rensburg so a great team and once the ball starts rolling then it just keeps going. He’s on a high and now the team is also."

Speaking as he warmed down, Greipel told the press that he made a mistake going into a higher gear in the finale. 

Thomas Voeckler got the combativity prize after making it into the day's break. He talks to the press in the mixed zone behind the podium.

Mark Cavendish was understandably delighted after taking his second stage win and moving into the lead of the points competition. 

We have full results from today's stage on line and a growing gallery and report. Check it all out here. 

Peter Sagan arriving at his press conference as the yellow jersey wearer. He began his press conference with a plea to the UCI asking for them to extend the three kilometre rule. 

A selection of quote from the finish of today's stage can be found here. That is it from us today. Tune in tomorrow for coverage of stage 4 of the Tour de France. 

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