Petacchi Makes Stage Wins In All Three Grand Tours

To day was for the sprinters, well that was the plan looking at the course of flat roads from Cangas de Onis to Santander. With 20 kilometers to go it was all-together, and then it started to rain, not just a little drizzle, but proper hard rain, it looked great, NOT !!

There had been many early escapes, but ONCE, Phonak and for the finish, Fassa Bortolo kept things tidy for the finaly.

On the run-in to the finish Fassa Bortolo were leading things out for Petacchi, on all the corners it was like a ice rink, slipping and sliding all over the place. The last bend with 500 meters to go, there was a battle to get round first, Petacchi had a team-mate on the front, all the riders managed round the corner, then Petacchi kicked and took two lengths out of the others, Erik Zabel pushed through to get second. There is going to be a lot of
washing to do tonight.

It wont be a bunch sprint tomorrow, that’s for sure, 151 kilometers from Santander to Burgos. The first climb is at 55.7 kilometers and goes over 1,000 meters, the race stays at nearly that altitude to the finish on undulating roads.

Stage 3 Result:

1єPETACCHI, Alessandro ITA FAS 3:24:13
2єZABEL, Erik GER TEL All same time.
3єBOONEN, Tom BEL QSD
4єDEAN, Julian NZL CSC
5єLOMBARDI, Giovanni ITA DVE
6єEDO, Angel ESP MIL
7єSVORADA, Jan CZE LAM
8єUSOV, Alexandre BLR PHO
9єGUTIERREZ, Francisco ESP L2C
10єPEREIRO, Oscar ESP PHO

Overall After Stage 3:

1єRODRIGUEZ, Joaquin ESP ONE 7:24:00
2єGLEZ. GALDEANO, Igor ESP ONE same time.
3єNOZAL, Isidro ESP ONE same time.
4єSERRANO, Marcos ESP ONE same time.
5єBELTRAN, Manuel ESP USP at 10 secs.
6єHERAS, Roberto ESP USP at 10 secs.
7єOSA, Unai ESP BAN at 24 secs.
8єOSA, Aitor ESP BAN at 24 secs.
9єMANCEBO, Francisco ESP BAN at 24 secs.
10єMERCADO, Juan Miguel ESP BAN at 39 secs.

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