Stage 3: Marseille - La Grande-Motte 196.5km

It was always going to be a day for sprinters, but we were never sure just what kind of day. It started out easily enough with a breakaway that was determined to show off, if not stay away. The stage fluctuated for those breakaway riders and at one point, if I recall correctly, they were almost 11 minutes ahead of the peloton. But, of course, the end was inevitable, as it almost always is for breakaways in the peloton. But it was the build up and chase of those riders that really brought the excitement.

Somehow, without any of us really noticing, the peloton split. Suddenly, there was a huge gap between almost all of Columbia and a few other riders from Skil-Shimano, Astana, Cofidis, Milram and Euskaltel - Euskadi. How did this happen? It was nothing more than a fluke. The wind changed and the peloton split and BAM everything changed. Luckily for me, my GC team managed to have all but two riders in the top half of the split. It was totally awesome, to be honest. The Columbia train is probably the sexiest looking train out there and I love it. Yeah, sorry, if you were looking for unbiased TDF coverage, you're on the wrong blog.

As much as I want Heinrich Haussler to win, I know he's there to work for Thor and I like Mark Cavendish a lot more than I like Thor (sorry, boys). It's too bad Columbia's kit is so fug and Cervelo's is kick awesome. But whatever, that's not the point. The thing is, I love Columbia and to have them in that smaller peloton was pretty damn awesome. I am not kidding, I was so excited. Then they caught the break and HELLO MARK CAVENDISH. No one's going to be able to stop that kid, not a single person.

I don't care what they say about Boonen or whatever, because there's no train like Columbia's train. And to watch it in action? It's a thing of fucking beauty. I don't care what people say, because they deserve every win they get. Cav just turns it on and goes and I love it. Every time (unless he's beating Haussi). And you know what else I like? The way he loves his teammates. He appreciates them like no one else. He knows who got him there and he lets them know. Cav's wins aren't just Cav's, they're Columbia's. I know we like to talk about how it was Discover/USPS winning when LA won, but I'm gonna say, right here, that they've got nothing on Columbia. That team has the best chemistry and even if they don't win the TDF (which, Kim Kirchen, I love you and want you to win, I just don't think you will).

So, this stage pretty much sorted nothing about, but Kim got a few (40?) seconds back and all Columbia have left to do is kick ass at the TTT. I know what happened already, even if I'm backdating this post (because I can), but I'm not going to talk about it. I shall just say that when I went to bed, I had faith that Columbia could be awesome. Anyway.

Stage 3 top 10:

1 Mark Cavendish (GBr) Team Columbia - High Road 05:01:24 (39.12km/h)
2 Thor Hushovd (Nor) Cervelo Test Team +:00:00
3 Cyril Lemoine (Fra) Skil-Shimano +:00:00
4 Samuel Dumoulin (Fra) Cofidis, Le Credit en Ligne +:00:00
5 Jérôme Pineau (Fra) Quick Step +:00:00
6 Fabian Cancellara (Swi) Team Saxo Bank +:00:00
7 Fabian Wegmann (Ger) Team Milram +:00:00
8 Fumiyuki Beppu (Jpn) Skil-Shimano +:00:00
9 Maxime Bouet (Fra) Agritubel +:00:00
10 Linus Gerdemann (Ger) Team Milram +:00:00

And, of course, The GC top 10:

1 Mark Cavendish (GBr) Team Columbia - High Road 05:01:24 (39.12km/h)
2 Thor Hushovd (Nor) Cervelo Test Team +:00:00
3 Cyril Lemoine (Fra) Skil-Shimano +:00:00
4 Samuel Dumoulin (Fra) Cofidis, Le Credit en Ligne +:00:00
5 Jérôme Pineau (Fra) Quick Step +:00:00
6 Fabian Cancellara (Swi) Team Saxo Bank +:00:00
7 Fabian Wegmann (Ger) Team Milram +:00:00
8 Fumiyuki Beppu (Jpn) Skil-Shimano +:00:00
9 Maxime Bouet (Fra) Agritubel +:00:00
10 Linus Gerdemann (Ger) Team Milram +:00:00