Stage 3 of the Tour de France (Monday July 4) has seen an historic win for Garmin-Cervelo’s Tyler Farrar as he begame the first American ever to bag a win on Independence Day. Crossing the finish line in a time of 4h40’21” Farrar made a poignant “W” hand signal in remembrance of his close friend Wouter Weylandt of Leopard-Trek who was killed two months ago in a crash on Stage 3 of the Giro d’Italia.
Mark Cavendish of HTC-Highroad, who was widely tipped as a potential winner of the 198km Olonne-sur-Mer to Redon, finished in fifth place after being delayed by a crash involving French rider Samuel Dumoulin (Team Cofidis) on the final bend of the day. Cavendish’s efforts though still see him sitting high in the overall rankings at 17th with a time of 9h46’51”, with fellow Brits Bradley Wiggins of Sky at 10th (9h46’50”), Geraint Thomas 4th (also Sky 9h46’50”) and David Millar (Garmin-Cervelo, 9h46’46”) sitting just one place below Tour leader and team-mate Thor Hushovd. All of which means that the only British rider currently sitting outside of the top-20 is Ben Swift of Team Sky, although he too is enjoying a more than respectable 23rd position.
