Fabian Cancellara turned the final mile of Stage 3 into a time trial on Tuesday, completely surprising the peloton and driving past a 4-man breakaway to win on the cobblestones in Compiegne.
Team CSC's Cancellara, the world time trial champion, grabbed the yellow jersey on Saturday's prologue and has held it ever since. The 20-second bonus at the finish gives him a 33-second margin over Astana's Andreas Kloden.
Most of the 146-mile race over rolling terrain between Waregem and Compiegne was as exciting as watching paint dry, as a two-man breakaway escaped at about 5 miles and stayed out in front of the sluggish peloton until the final few feet.
The two escapers, Nicolas Vogondy (Agritubel) and Mathieu Ladagnous (Française des Jeux), gained as much as 15 minutes, but were pulled within 3 or 4 minutes during most of the ride. Two more cyclists, Stéphane Augé (Cofidis), Frederik Willems (Liquigas), bridged to the breakaway with 20 miles left.
The four worked well together for about 19 miles, and one of them would have won the stage on Tuesday if they hadn't started the old “cat and mouse” game with less than a mile remaining. Cancellara, riding near the front of the peloton, must have sensed their gamesmanship when they hit the straightaway to the finish line.
The 26-year-old Swiss put his head down and caught up with the four within sight of the finish, dragging a group of sprinters in his wake who could not pass him.
Tom Boonen (QuickStep) retained the green jersey, and Stephane Auge (Cofidis) took the mountains jersey from David Millar (Saunier Duvall).
The only change in order among the top riders is that Mikel Astarloza replaced Alexander Vinokourov at No. 11. The top 10 are:
1. Fabian Cancellara (Swiss) Team CSC
2. Andreas Klöden (Ger) Astana, 33 seconds behind
3. David Millar (GBr) Saunier Duval, 41 second
4. George Hincapie (USA) Discovery, 43 seconds
5. Bradley Wiggins (GBr) Cofidis, 43 seconds
6. Vladimir Gusev (Rus) Discovery, 45 seconds
7. Tom Boonen (Bel) Quickstep, 46 seconds
8. Vladimir Karpets (Rus) Caisse d'Epargne, 46 seconds,
9. Thor Hushovd (Nor) Crédit Agricole, 49 seconds
10. Mikel Astarloza (Sp) Euskaltel, 49 seconds
The top Americans:
4. George Hincapie, Discovery, 43 seconds behind
32. Levi Leipheimer, Discovery, 60 seconds
69. Chris Horner, Predictor-Lotto, 1:13
73. Christian Vande Velde, Team CSC, 1:13
123. Freddy Rodriguez, Predictor-Lotto, 1:25 behind
186. David Zabriskie, Team CSC, 4:24 behind
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