Tour de France: Yellow jersey Cancellara surprises sprinters
{{date|July 10, 2007}}{{Tour de France 2007}}[[Image:Cancellara Tour de France 2007 Waregem.jpg|left|thumb|Fabian Cancellara in his yellow jersey at the start of the 3rd stage in the Tour de France 2007 in Waregem.{{Image credit|[http://www.flickr.com/people/7635950@N07/ Johan Vandamme]}}]]
In the third and longest stage of the [[w:2007 Tour de France|Tour de France]] today, the [[Switzerland|Swiss]] leader [[w:Fabian Cancellara|Fabian Cancellara]] didn't wait to compete with the sprinters, and used his time trial qualities to just hold them off and haul in a second victory.

{{QuoteRight|The wind was stopping the whole peloton and it's hard to ride 240km with the wind in your face. That's one of the reasons that the whole peloton chose to ride slower because we are not machines, we are humans.|10px|4=Fabian Cancellara}}

The riders had 236.5 [[w:Kilometre|km]] in front of them when they started around 11 a.m. this morning in [[w:Waregem|Waregem]], [[Belgium]], heading for the [[France|French]] town [[w:Compiègne|Compiègne]], which is known also as the start of the race [[w:Paris-Roubaix|Paris-Roubaix]]. Remarkably, the riders didn't go faster than 30 km/hour most of the stage, so they came in an hour behind schedule after almost seven hours in the saddle.

After an early escape, [[w:Nicolas Vogondy|Nicolas Vogondy]] and [[w:Matthieu Ladagnous|Matthieu Ladagnous]] were joined by [[w:Stephane Auge|Stephane Auge]] and [[w:Frederik Willems|Frederik Willems]] (the first three French, the latter Belgian) at 42 km of the finish. The former duo had a maximum lead of around 13 minutes 45 seconds, but the quartet of escapees was caught by the peleton just 500 m from the finish.

{{QuoteRight|He pulled a rabbit out of the hat there! I've never seen anything like that in my 11 Tours.|10px|4=Stuart O'Grady on Cancellara}}
The yellow jersey and winner of the prologue took an early shot at the finale and managed to keep off [[w:Erik Zabel|Erik Zabel]], [[w:Danilo Napolitano|Danilo Napolitano]] and [[w:Tom Boonen|Tom Boonen]], among others. The bonus seconds expand Canchellara's lead from 13 to 33 seconds. In the climbing ranking, [[w:David Millar|David Millar]] lost the [[w:Polka dot jersey|polka dot jersey]] to Stephane Auge but remains third, 43 seconds behind Cancellara.

==Results==
Results of the third stage:
# Fabian Cancellara: 6 hrs 36 mins 15 secs (others listed: same time)
# Erik Zabel
# Danilo Napolitano
# Tom Boonen
# [[w:Robert Hunter|Robert Hunter]]
# [[w:Robert Foerster|Robert Foerster]]
# [[w:Robbie McEwen|Robbie McEwen]]
# [[w:Bernhard Eisel|Bernhard Eisel]]
# [[w:Mark Cavendish|Mark Cavendish]]
# [[w:Heinrich Haussler|Heinrich Haussler]]

Overall standing:
# Fabian Cancellara: 15 hrs 12 mins 8 secs
# [[w:Andreas Klöden|Andreas Klöden]]: + 33´´
# David Millar: + 41´´
# [[w:George Hincapie|George Hincapie]]: + 43´´
# [[w:Bradley Wiggins|Bradley Wiggins]]: + 43´´
# [[w:Vladimir Gusev|Vladimir Gusev]]: + 45´´
# Tom Boonen: + 46´´
# [[w:Vladimir Karpets|Vladimir Karpets]]: + 46´´
# [[w:Thor Hushovd|Thor Hushovd]]: + 49´´
# [[w:Mikel Astarloza|Mikel Astarloza]]: + 49´´

==Sources==
*{{source|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/other_sports/cycling/6289216.stm
|title=Cancellara snatches stage victory
|author=
|pub=BBC Sport
|date=July 10, 2007}}
*{{source|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/other_sports/cycling/6287148.stm
|title= Stage three - as it happened
|author=
|pub=BBC Sport
|date=July 10, 2007}}
*{{source|url=http://www.standaard.be/Artikel/Detail.aspx?artikelid=DMF10072007_123#
|title=Cancellara blijft spurtend peloton voor
|author=
|pub=De Standaard
|date=July 10, 2007
|lang=Dutch}}

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{{Archived}}

[[Category:Sports]]
[[Category:Cycling]]
[[Category:2007 Tour de France]]
[[Category:Europe]]
[[Category:Belgium]]
[[Category:France]]
[[Category:Switzerland]]
{{DEFAULTSORT:Yellow jersey Cancellara surprises sprinters}}

[[fr:Tour de France cycliste 2007 : 3e étape]]
[[pl:Fabian Cancellara wygrał 3. etap Tour de France 2007]]
Fabian Cancellara in his yellow jersey at the start of the 3rd stage in the Tour de France 2007 in Waregem.
In the third and longest stage of the Tour de France today, the Swiss leader Fabian Cancellara didn't wait to compete with the sprinters, and used his time trial qualities to just hold them off and haul in a second victory.

The riders had 236.5 km in front of them when they started around 11 a.m. this morning in Waregem, Belgium, heading for the French town Compiègne, which is known also as the start of the race Paris-Roubaix. Remarkably, the riders didn't go faster than 30 km/hour most of the stage, so they came in an hour behind schedule after almost seven hours in the saddle.

After an early escape, Nicolas Vogondy and Matthieu Ladagnous were joined by Stephane Auge and Frederik Willems (the first three French, the latter Belgian) at 42 km of the finish. The former duo had a maximum lead of around 13 minutes 45 seconds, but the quartet of escapees was caught by the peleton just 500 m from the finish.


The yellow jersey and winner of the prologue took an early shot at the finale and managed to keep off Erik Zabel, Danilo Napolitano and Tom Boonen, among others. The bonus seconds expand Canchellara's lead from 13 to 33 seconds. In the climbing ranking, David Millar lost the polka dot jersey to Stephane Auge but remains third, 43 seconds behind Cancellara.

Overall standing:
# Fabian Cancellara: 15 hrs 12 mins 8 secs
# Andreas Klöden: + 33´´
# David Millar: + 41´´
# George Hincapie: + 43´´
# Bradley Wiggins: + 43´´
# Vladimir Gusev: + 45´´
# Tom Boonen: + 46´´
# Vladimir Karpets: + 46´´
# Thor Hushovd: + 49´´
# Mikel Astarloza: + 49´´

fr:Tour de France cycliste 2007 : 3e étape
Sports Cycling 2007 Tour de France Europe Belgium France Switzerland