general

Stéphane Poulhiès (Saur-Sojasun) won the sprint into ales, finishing ahead of Justin Jules (Véranda Rideau U) and Bobbie Traksel (Landbouwkrediet).  more wintery conditions forced the race officials to cut the stage short, removing the Col de la Baraque, opting for the lower part of the climb instead, making for an 82km race.

20km into the day, a break formed between Renaud Dion (Bretagne Schuller), Frédéric Amorison (Landbouwkrediet) and Jonathan Hivert (Saur-Sojasun) – the peloton kept a close eye over the trio, making sure they never gained more than a minute over the main group.  Hivert accelerated away from his breakaway companions on the shortened Col de la Baraque – he had 44 seconds over the peloton with 10km left to race.  unfortunately, he was eventually caught, opening up an opportunity for a “bunch” sprint.  or what’s left of the bunch.  what was a 135+ peloton has now been whittled down to 78.  Pierre Rolland (Europcar) continues to lead in the gc ahead of Franck Vermeulen (Veranda Rideau U) by 6 seconds.

Jérôme Coppel (Saur-Sojasun) won the individual time trial, later in the day, rounding the 9.7km course in 14:25 – Pierre Rolland finished 48 seconds down from Coppel and surrendered his overall victory for the race.  Rein Taaramae (Cofidis) finished 2nd, 26 seconds down and Maxime Bouet (AG2R-La Mondiale) was in 3rd, 32 seconds down in the individual time trial.

photos from steephill.

Coppel took the overall win, Vermeulen in 2nd, and Taaramae in 3rd.

marco marcato (vacansoleil-dcm) took victory on the slight uphill finish at bagnols-sur-cèze, winning ahead of nicko eckhout (an post-sean kelly) and julien el fares (team type 1-sanofi).  more winter conditions forced race organizers to shorten the 150km stage to 66km – 3 laps around the finishing circuit in bagnols-sur-cèze.  the first rider to attack was bobbie traksel (landbouwkrediet) – he held a lead of a minute coming into the final lap.  europcar protected the interests of pierre rolland, leading the chase along with vancansoleil-dcm.  traksel was eventually caught with 4km left to go.  marcel kittel (project 1t4i) finished 11 minutes back from marcato and was eliminated from the race due to the time cut.

pierre rolland still leads in the gc – frank vermeulen (veranda rideau u) is 6 seconds back, with marco marcato 8 seconds back.

photo from steephill.

pierre rolland (europcar) took the win today on stage 3 of the etoile de bessèges.  he finished ahead of his breakaway companion, franck vermeulen (véranda rideau-super u) and 7 seconds ahead of nacer bouhanni (fdj-bigmat).  the finishing duo were part of a lead group which formed later in the stage – they managed to stay away until the end of the race.  marcel kittel (project 1t4i) lost contact with the peloton, finished 23 minutes down, and lost his leader’s jersey.  the 158km course contained a category 1 climb, the col de treylis, which was looped 3 times around.  20km into the cold stage, a break of 13 riders formed.  they were eventually caught, but the chasers split the peloton into 3.

100km into stage, 8 riders broke away – rolland and vermeulen were part of the group.  they soon gained 2 minutes over the first chase group and 12 minutes over the kittel group.  the break held a 45 second lead entering the final 6.8km circuit.  the other 6 riders were unable to keep pace, leaving it up to rolland and vermeulen.

photo from steephill.