Le Tour 100 – Stage 3

Ajaccio to Calvi

Distance: 145.5 kilometers.

Stage three is for the mountain climbers. You start with a category 4 climb, Col de San Bastiano, then drop back down for the only flat part of the run, which includes a sprint. Having gotten your legs stretched in the sprint it is time for a category 3 climb up Col de San Martino, a descent followed by the category 3 climb up Côte de Porto. Côte de Porto looks insignificant, only 161 meters high, but the road is much steeper than the two climbs that precede it. It is followed by 25 km of hills that don’t quite make it to the category 4 status. Waiting for you after all of the ‘hills’ is the category 2 climb over Col de Marsolino. The good news is after you crawl to the top, you can coast down to the finish line, for the end of your Corsican adventure.

Jan Bakelants hung on to his one second overall lead for another stage until the team time trials in Nice. Peter Sagan took the Green, but didn’t quite have the strength to overtake Simon Gerrans at the finish line. Simon Clarke earned his Red numbers helping to set up his teammate, Gerrans for the stage win, and harvested enough points to be second for the Polka Dot.

Two riders failed to finish as the injuries take their toll. Geraint Thomas is still riding despite a pelvic fracture, probably hair-line, that will get much worse if he has another accident.

Jan Bakelants ( Bel – RLT – 042 ) [Yellow] 12h 21′ 27″
Peter Sagan ( Svk – CAN – 011 ) [Green] 74 points
Pierre Rolland ( Fra – EUC – 051 ) [Polka Dot] 10 points
Michal Kwiatkowski ( Pol – OPQ – 153 ) 4 [White]

Team: RadioShack-Leopard ( RLT – 041-049 ) [Yellow numbers]
Stage winner: Simon Gerrans ( Aus – OGE – 181 )
Combative: Simon Clarke ( Aus – OGE – 183 ) [Red numbers]

Top Ten:

1 Jan Bakelants ( Bel – RLT – 042 )
2 Julien Simon ( Fra – SOJ – 218 ) + 00′ 01″
3 Simon Gerrans ( Aus – OGE – 181 ) + 00′ 01″
4 Michal Kwiatkowski ( Pol – OPQ – 153 ) + 00′ 01″
5 Edvald Boasson Hagen ( Nor – SKY – 002 ) + 00′ 01″
6 Daryl Impey ( RSA – OGE – 185 ) + 00′ 01″
7 David Millar ( GB – GRS – 176 ) + 00′ 01″
8 Sergey Lagutin ( Uzb – VCD – 206 ) + 00′ 01″
9 Cadel Evans ( Aus – BMC – 031 ) + 00′ 01″
10 Romain Bardet ( Fra – ALM – 082 ) + 00′ 01″

The Rest of the Top 30:

11 Nicolas Roche ( Irl – TST – 097 ) + 00′ 01″
12 Jurgen Van Den Broeck ( Bel – LTB – 021 ) + 00′ 01″
13 Sylvain Chavanel ( Fra – OPQ – 152 ) + 00′ 01″
14 Jean-Christophe Péraud ( Fra – ALM – 081 ) + 00′ 01″
15 Christopher Froome ( GB – SKY – 001 ) + 00′ 01″
16 Damiano Cunego ( Ita – LAM – 141 ) + 00′ 01″
17 Eduard Vorganov ( Rus – KAT – 109 ) + 00′ 01″
18 Roman Kreuziger ( Cze – TST – 094 ) + 00′ 01″
19 Alejandro Valverde ( Esp – MOV – 121 ) + 00′ 01″
20 Jakob Fuglsang ( Den – EUC – 063 ) + 00′ 01″
21 Mikel Astarloza ( Esp – EUS – 112 ) + 00′ 01″
22 Gorka Izaguirre Insausti ( Esp – EUS – 113 ) + 00′ 01″
23 Adam Hansen ( Aus – LTB – 025 ) + 00′ 01″
24 Richie Porte ( Aus – SKY – 006 ) + 00′ 01″
25 Francesco Gavazzi ( Ita – EUC – 065 ) + 00′ 01″
26 Ryder Hesjedal ( Can – GRS – 171 ) + 00′ 01″
27 Wouter Poels ( Ned – VCD – 201 ) + 00′ 01″
28 Joaquin Rodriguez Oliver ( Esp – KAT – 101 ) + 00′ 01″
29 Peter Sagan ( Svk – CAN – 011 ) + 00′ 01″
30 Christian Vande Velde ( USA – GRS – 179 ) + 00′ 01″

Did not finish:

Andrey Kashechkin ( Kaz – EUC – 066 )
Yoann Bagot ( Fra – COF – 132 )

Note: Wikipedia has a simple article on the Mountain classification used on the Tour. The basic fact is that climbs fall into five types, with the four numbered types decreasing in difficulty as the numbers get larger, and then there is the Hors Catégorie, literally “without category”, which generally makes you look for an elevator or Sherpas.

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