Gerrans wins Stage 3 at the Tour de France

Simon Gerrans (Orica-GreenEdge) won Stage 3 at the Tour de France in Calvi, on Corsica. The Australian out paced Peter Sagan (Cannondale) and Jose Joaquim Rojas (Movistar).

Jan Bakelants (RadioShack-Leopard) held his lead in the overall classification heading into the stage 4 team time trial in Nice.

Stage 3 took the riders on a 145.5-km race from Ajaccio to Calvi, the last stage held on the island of Corsica. The stage included one intermediate sprint and three king of the mountain ascents.

A breakaway of five riders took off during the early kilometres of the race and gained more then four minutes on the field. Those riders were Lieuwe Westra (Vacansoleil-DCM), Sebastien Minard (Ag2r-La Mondiale), Alexis Vuillermoz (Sojasun), Cyril Gautier and Simon Clarke (Orica-GreenEdge).

Clarke was the first rider over the first ascent over the Col de San Bastiano just 12 kms into the race. Minard took the points at the intermediate sprint in Sagone at the 29-km mark. Clarke made it over the second and third climb, the Col de San Martino at 58 kms and Cote de Porto at 75 kms, ahead of his breakaway mates.

The breakaway’s advantage decreased to 30 seconds before the fourth and final climb on the Col de Marsolino at 132 kms. Clarke and Minard attacked their companions and continued on together on the climb. With 2 kms to the top of the climb, Clarke attacked Minard and raced to the top alone in an attempted to pick up points for the climber’s competition, as the others were reabsorbed into the field.

Unfortunately for Clarke, he was caught and dropped by the leader of the king of the mountains Pierre Rolland (Team Europcar) with help from his teammate Davide Malacarne. Rolland picked up the points and continued racing solo toward the finish line in Calvi, with 10 kms to go.

Sylvain Chavanel (OmegaPharma-QuickStep) bridged across to Rolland, followed by Mikel Nieve (Euskaltel Euskadi) and Lars Petter Nordhaug (Belkin). The four riders held a six-second gap ahead of the peloton, led by Orica-GreenEdge, with 4 kms to go. Lead outs from Orica-GreenEdge and Cannondale brought all the riders back just metres before the finish line.

Stage results

1. Simon Gerrans (Orica-GreenEdge) 3:41:24

2. Peter Sagan (Cannondale Pro Cycling)

3. Jose Joaquin Rojas Gil (Movistar Team)

4. Michal Kwiatkowski (Omega Pharma-QuickStep)

5. 
Philippe Gilbert (BMC Racing Team)

31. Ryder Hesjedal (Garmin-Sharp)

110. David Veilleux (Europcar) + 0:05:02

150. Svein Tuft (Orica-GreenEdge) +0:08:26

Overall Classification

1. Jan Bakelants (RadioShack-Leopard) 12:21:27

2. Julien Simon (Sojasun) +0:00:01

3. 
Simon Gerrans (Orica-GreenEdge)

4. Michal Kwiatkowski (Omega Pharma-QuickStep)

5. Edvald Boasson Hagen (Sky Procycling)

26. Ryder Hesjedal (Garmin-Sharp)

117. David Veilleux (Europcar) +0:14:05

170. Svein Tuft (Orica-GreenEdge) +0:26:01