Well, someone did lose their Tour hopes on stage three's cobbles. Thankfully, it wasn't Lance, but a Basque threat, Iban Mayo, lost almost four minutes due to a crash on the cobblestones of Belgium and France (and Jan Ullrich's T-Mobile Team putting a lot of effort in at the front to make sure he wouldn't reach the pack).
Jean Patrick Nazon took the stage in a sprint, while Robbie McEwen took the leader's jersey. He is no threat to Lance when the race hits the mountains.
Tomorrow's stage is a team time trial which US Postal won last year and is expected to win again this year.
The UK Guardian quotes Iban Mayo: "My Tour has been finished by bad luck," he said yesterday, after a crash amid the cobbles of the Valenciennes coalfield cost him almost four minutes. "I've worked a year preparing for this race, and it will be very difficult even to make the first three now. The gap is too big."
ReplyDelete