THE RACE LIVE
titleretourdirect

The film of the stage

Kessler’s Coup

Matthias Kessler achieved a coup by outsprinting Michael Boogerd on the final climb and putting himself into a winning position. The T-Mobile rider burst ahead of the peloton, crested the summit ahead of Sebastian Joly, Boogerd and Tom Boonen. The rider who was swamped by the sprinters in the final 50m of stage two would not suffer the same fate today: he held on to win the stage by five seconds. His team-mate Michael Rogers finished in second, while Tom Boonen’s fourth place would be enough to ensure that the road world champion would wear the yellow jersey for stage four. It was a day of drama that saw the retirement of one of the overall favourites for the 2006 Tour de France, Alejandro Valverde who crashed and fractured his collarbone.

The Progress Report

Voigt: The Perpetual Aggressor
The first successful escape bid, however, was instigated by Voigt (CSC) at the 14km mark. He was joined by Etxebarria (EUS), Pineau (BTL), Arrieta (A2R) and Laurent (AGR) at the 17km mark. At 18.5km this quintet was 45” ahead of the peloton. When the lead blew out to 2’10” (at 24km) the Credit Agricole team came to the head of the peloton but they were content to allow the advantage increase. Voigt was the best-placed on GC of the five escapees, in 47th 36” behind Hushovd; the German won the 1st intermediate sprint. The peloton was 3’55” behind. The average speed for the first hour was 45.0km/h. Then it was time to watch the margin grow: 5’00” with the peloton at 46km; 5’35” at 81km…
Credit Agricole maintained a steady tempo and despite Voigt’s efforts – that Vincente Lavenu of AG2R described as “the work of two men” – the advantage of the escapees didn’t escalate too much. The average speed for the 2nd hour was 42.2km/h. As the peloton crossed the Belgian border (at 91km) it was 5’25” behind the escapees. The maximum gain of the quintet was 6’10” when the peloton was at the 100km mark.

The Climbing Action
Pineau led Extebarria, Laurent and Voigt to the top of the Cote de la Haute Levee. The peloton was being led by riders from Phonak and Davitamon-Lotto. They crested the summit of the first climb 4’35” behind the leaders. Pineau led the escapees over the 2nd climb after surging 150m before the top. Credit Agricole was back at the front of the peloton and being shadowed by a number of Phonak riders. This group was behind by 5’05”. Pineau equalled the tally of climbing points of De la Fuentes (SDV) on the 3rd climb when he led Voigt and Arrieta over the line. The peloton was behind by 4’20”. Arrieta led the escapees to the 3rd intermediate sprint line. The peloton was at 3’20” in Aubel.

Boogerd Tests His Legs
When the Tour arrived in the Netherlands, the Dutch champion Boogerd (RAB) was part of a small group that tried to escape the peloton which had been led by riders from Quickstep, Rabobank and Milram. The bout of action quickly dropped the advantage of the escapees. At the top of the 4th climb, the peloton was at 1’55”. Laurent attacked the lead group with 20km to go. He was joined by Arrieta, then Voigt. The peloton was behind by 1’30”. With 18km to go, Arrieta made a solo bid but he was caught on the Cauberg by Boogerd who led the peloton up the climb he knows so well… his chance of glory was spoiled by Kessler (TMO) who burst into the lead of the stage on the final climb and crossed the line

Dekker & Rodriguez Crash Out… And Then Valverde!
On the approach to the 3rd climb, Erik Dekker and Fred Rodriguez crashed into a spectator on the right side of the road. Both were forced to abandon the Tour because of the injuries they sustained. Dekker fractured a collarbone and also required stitches to his face.
With about 20km to go, Alejandro Valverde (CEI) was involved in a crash. He fractured his right collarbone and was forced to abandon his second Tour de France.

Newsflashes

» Read all the dispatches