2011 Tour de France, Stage 1 to Stage 11#Stage 3

(42,4 km / h)

Mickaël Delage (FDJ )

The third stage of the Tour de France 2011 on July 4 led 198 km from Olonne- sur- Mer to Redon. On the flat stage it was like at each stage of the Tour de France a sprint, also a mountain stage of the fourth category. All 198 registered riders took to the start.

Race course

Right at the beginning of the stage, a quintet from Rubén Pérez, José Iván Gutiérrez, Maxime Bouet, Niki Terpstra and Mickaël Delage was able to sell that could pull a gap of up to eight minutes. Delage, who was later honored as the most aggressive drivers, the intermediate sprint decided for themselves. In the field moved Omega Pharma-Lotto at the sprint to sprint, the finally happened Mark Cavendish first.

As a result, the projection to the outliers shrank back, as well as other teams made pace. Of the outliers Delage was able to win the only mountain of the day then, which was extended on the bridge over the Loire estuary. The field was divided into several parts there, but later joined back together. Gutierrez and Delage managed to hold until about nine kilometers from the finish in front of the field, while their three companions were somewhat more likely to be outdated.

The final sprint put on the HTC -Highroad team until the Garmin-Cervélo team intervened therein. The victory won Tyler Farrar and dedicated it to his killed in the Giro Wouter Weylandt friend.

Climbs

• Saint- Nazaire Bridge, Category 4 ( 143 km, 66 m, 1.1 km at 4.9%)

Scoring

• Intermediate sprint in Saint- Hilaire -de- Chaléons ( 104 km, 15 m)

• Target in Redon ( 198 km, 31 m)