Tour Stage 3: Viva la France

Stage three is a great example of what it means to be a pro cyclist. If you haven’t watched it, it’s a must-see stage. As I’ve said before, the first week is generally a week for sprinters to come out and beat up on everybody else. But not this year.

I’ll admit, I’m a franco-phile. I love France. I never bought into that whole freedom fries nonsense. I’m also a big fan of the underdogs. I love the breakaways that nobody expects to do anything except get some publicity. So stage 3 will go down as one of my favorites. It’s so awesome for a French rider, on a French team, who is in on a wildcard entry, to get into a breakaway that shouldn’t have lasted and make it all the way into yellow. It’s also great to see Confidis, who had bad luck on the first day with the first abandon, who also worked so hard in the breakaways the first two stages, take the stage win.

My favorite part of the stage may have been the interview with Friskhorn (which in the US was on Versus, probably not on any other coverage). He is a rider in his first Tour, and he will probably never be a GC man. He will probably never be a stage contender either. His ambition is to be there and support the team. But on stage three, he was allowed to go out on a break, only 500 meters into the stage. 207.5 kilometers later, he places second. This was probably the closest he would get to a stage win. And he knew it. Most people (myself included) would *kill* for the opportunity to race in the Tour de France, let alone get 2nd in a stage, but he was disappointed. Beating himself up. I loved it.

I sure hope the french riders can continue to do well. I want to see Voeckler win the polka dots (although Soler, if he wasn’t injured, is also one of my favorites). This Tour is shaping up to be an interesting one. I can’t want to see the results of the TT, I’m sure it will mix things up.