France- Cycling

Tour de France rides the south coast

Article published on the 2009-07-06 Latest update 2009-07-07 16:01 TU

Tour de France race 5 July 2009
(Credit: Reuters)

The Tour de France continued in the south of the country on Monday as the third stage took off from Marseille. It will finish in La Grande-Motte and could result in another bunch sprint to the line similar to the climax of Sunday’s second stage.

It was Britain’s Mark Cavendish who finished the 187 kilometre journey from Monaco to Brignoles in first position after a perfectly-timed late sprint. The victory reaffirmed Cavendish’s reputation as one of the best sprinters in cycling and added to the four stages he won last year.

A four-man breakaway was reeled in by the peloton with less than 10 kilometres to go and in the end it was Cavendish who pulled on the green jersey given to the leading sprinter.

The Colombia rider, who received excellent support from his team, avoided a couple of late crashes and finished ahead of America’s Tyler Farrar and France’s Romain Feillu.

“It’s beautiful to be wearing the green jersey – it’s a big objective for any sprinter so of course it’s emotional for me,” said the 24-year-old. “It’s a step in the right direction and it’s a beautiful moment for me.”

Swiss rider Fabian Cancellara of the Saxo Bank team retains the race leader’s yellow jersey ahead of Alberto Contador. The Olympic champion holds an 18 second lead over Contador, the Spanish rider who is considered the favourite to win the tour.

Seven-time winner Lance Armstrong, who is returning after almost four years away from the tour, lies in 10th position overall after finishing among the peloton in Sunday’s searing heat. “Days like today are incredibly hot and hard for everyone,” he said. “I just wanted to avoid trouble and get into the rhythm of the race, because yesterday’s time trial wasn’t really a normal stage.”