Belgium's Tom Boonen gained the yellow jersey by one-second as the Tour de France continued its race of attrition on Tuesday.
One of the major contenders, Alejandro Valverde, crashed out with a broken collarbone while cycling in the midst of the peloton. Earlier in the 3rd stage, American cyclist Fred Rodriguez (Davitamon-Lotto) and Erik Dekker (Rabobank) also left the race after crashing.
Valverde, a Spanish cyclist for Caisse d'Epargne, apparently touched wheels on a straight, flat stretch of road about 8 miles from the finish. He joins such riders as Ivan Basso, Jan Ullrich, and Alexandre Vinokourov who promised to be major factors in the 2006 Tour, but who are no longer competing.
Stage winner
T-Mobile cyclist Matthias Kessler won the 134-mile stage into The Netherlands. He's the cyclist who struggled in vain for a stage win on Monday, only to be gobbled up by the peloton about 50 yards from the finish.
On Tuesday Kessler jumped out from the peloton on Le Cauberg — a short, steep climb in Valkenburg in the final two miles of the race. This time he drove his lead to the end.
Boonen of the QuickStep team finished close enough in the chasing group to take the yellow jersey from Thor Hushovd, the Norgwegian who led the race after the prologue and Monday's stage. Reuters reports one of the quirkiest facts of the day; Boonen suffered a puncture about 5 kilometers from the finish, yet still finished in 4th place in the stage.
2 Americans in top 10
The other holder of the yellow jersey in this year's Tour, American George Hincapie of the Discovery team, finished well enough to move up to 3rd place overall, just 5 seconds behind the leader. Another US rider, Floyd Landis, is back in the top 10.
An early breakaway of Jens Voigt (CSC), Jose Luis Arrieta (AG2R), Unai Etxebarria (Euskaltel), Jerome Pineau (Bouygues), and Christophe Laurent (Agritubel) jumped out at 9 miles into the race, gaining a lead of nearly 6 minutes. Five were caught with just 4 miles left, and an attacking Arrieta stayed away from the peloton until he was caught on the final climb of Le Cauberg.
The Top 10 overall are:
1. Tom Boonen (Belgium) QuickStep
2. Michael Rogers (Aus), T-Mobile, 1 second behind
3. George Hincapie (USA), Discovery Channel, 5 seconds
4. Thor Hushovd (Nor) Credit Agricole, 7 seconds
5. Paolo Savoldelli (Ita), Discovery, 15 seconds
6. Daniele Bennati (Ita), Lampre, 15 seconds,
7. Floyd Landis (USA), Phonak, 16 seconds
8. Vladimir Karpets (Rus), Caisse d'Epargne, 17 seconds
9. Serhiy Honchar (Ukr), T-Mobile, 17 seconds
10. Matthias Kessler (Ger), T-Mobile 17 seconds
The departure of Rodriguez, left, who was riding in his 6th Tour de France, leaves 7 Americans in the race. They are:
3. George Hincapie (Discovery), 5 seconds behind
7. Floyd Landis (Phonak), 16 seconds behind
15. David Zabriskie (CSC), 23 seconds
19. Bobby Julich (CSC), 25 seconds
23. Christian Vandevelde (CSC), 28 seconds
25. Levi Leipheimer (Gerolsteiner), 28 seconds
143. Chris Horner, (Davitamon-Lotto), 8 minutes, 22 seconds
Wednesday's 128-mile stage from Huy to Saint Quentin looks like rolling terrain, except for 3rd and 4th category climb early in the day.
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