Tour de France Results: Stage 3
Switzerland's Fabian Cancellara extended his lead in the Tour de France by winning Stage 3. The win places him ahead of Andreas Kloeden by 33 seconds.
Cancellara had feared losing the yellow jersey to one of four breakaway riders along the 147-mile route from Waregem, Belgium, to Compiegne, northeast of Paris.
The pack caught up near the finish. Cancellara, having been shielded from high winds by teammates, had enough left to surge ahead and overtake the four with hundreds of yards to go.
"I have no words after winning something like that," he said. "I attacked. It was instinctive."
Sprint specialist Erik Zabel of Germany was second and Danilo Napolitano of Italy was third. They and the trailing pack took 6 hours, 36 minutes, 15 seconds to complete the course, averaging an unusually low 22 mph.
"It was a really long day but because of the wind we couldn't go faster. We are not machines," said Cancellara, who was caught in a group crash Monday and slightly injured his left hand.
All 187 riders that began the stage finished, carefully negotiating sharp turns and cobblestone patches near the end.
Latest Results
Tour de France Standings-Through Stage 3 Through stage 3 Rank Rider Time Behind
1 Fabian CANCELLARA 15:12:08 –
2 AndrĂ©as KLĂ-DEN 15:12:41 00:33
3 David MILLAR 15:12:49 00:41
4 George HINCAPIE 15:12:51 00:43
5 Bradley WIGGINS 15:12:51 00:43
6 Vladimir GUSEV 15:12:53 00:45
7 Tom BOONEN 15:12:54 00:46
8 Vladimir KARPETS 15:12:54 00:46
9 thor HUSHOVD 15:12:57 00:49
10 Mikel ASTARLOZA 15:12:57 00:49
~admin
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