Etoile de Besseges - Arnaud De Lie wins stage 3 but 55 riders abandon the race in protest
Cycling
Stage 3 of the Etoile de Bessèges is a day that will stay in the history books for a long time but for the wrong reasons. After another moving car was tracked on course, the peloton neutralized the stage, and 55 riders (of seven teams) abandoned the race in protest. Amidst all the chaos, Arnaud De Lie managed to take his first win of the season.
The race started off just about as chaotic as possible. Although there was no crash, as was the case yesterday there was a car on course and this time around there was no patience for such an incident. The peloton stopped on it's tracks in protest of the situation, neutralizing the race.
In the end, the stage did go forward, but with seven teams pulling the plug on their participation. What can only be termed as a mass exodus from the race, most of the World Tour teams unilaterally decided to abandon the race amidst continuous safety problems.
A very thin peloton continued the day, which had it's final section cut (as the riders would pass the same descent once again). Oliver Knight, Valentin Retailleau, Antoine Hue and Hugo Aznar formed the day's breakaway but with the shortened stage and GC interests suddenly sparking in the chaotic situation, they didn't survive long.
The last 40 kilometers were packed with attacks and ever evolving groups. On the final ascent of the new stage profile Cofidis pushed a very hard pace and Dylan Teuns went on the attack, getting a gap over the peloton, however the group behind reconnected and began an organized chase. The Belgian was caught with 4 kilometers to go under heavy rain.
In the final sprint there were rather deorganized leadouts, but it was all about the riders' legs after a tough day. Arnaud De Lie sprinted to victory on the day, beating Arnaud Démare and Paul Penhoët.
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- Why is that relevant when discussing speed?Mistermaumau23-03-2025
- But he wasn’t the only one ;-)Mistermaumau23-03-2025
- Obviously the questions are more important to some here than to them or the team so I suggest looking for answers instead of asking questions between ourselves. We’ll probably get them unless someone actually goes to ask the protagonists themselves. Here are some starters : They like riding together; they have their own rivalry that helps bring out the best in both; they might get more points helping each other compared to racing separate races. In any case, unless we hear MJ complaining about it, I don’t think it’s going to change, it’s the Sepp Kuss syndrome all over again, fans lobbying against the will of the rider.Mistermaumau23-03-2025
- Mine goes to MVDP for entertaining us all year round :-) Stellar race, Ganna impressive in his own way as many predicted after some oddly lacklustre times.Mistermaumau23-03-2025
- i remember when not too long ago mathieu was regarded as a real tactical knucklehead. i’m not sure that was ever quite accurate, but it’s certainly the case that over the years he has become a real master tactician. in the biggest races, van der poel rarely makes choices that don’t fully optimize every specific advantage he has.OCexile23-03-2025
- Whatever the result, I believe the strategy by UAE to launch Pogacar was absolutely the right one. Unfortunately, they just were not able to execute it the way they must have planned, being all over the place at the start of the Cipressa.Cooldude23-03-2025
- They are without doubt not just the best two classics riders of this generation, but amongst the best of all time. MvdP is more suited to MSR and PR (which Pog has yet to race), while Pog is now almost untouchable at LBL and Lombardia. RVV is the only one where both basically have an equal chance to win.Cooldude23-03-2025
- bravissima!
maria2024202423-03-2025 - According to Tadej's Strava upload, he went up the Cipressa at an average speed of 37.6kph. Rocket ship! He did the 5.63km verified 'Cipressa' Strava segment in 8:59 minutes, which has a 4.3% average grade and total elevation gain of 229m. Naturally, he got the Strava KOM.Pogboom23-03-2025
- In Track and Field, there's Usain Bolt in the sprints and Kenya's Kipchoge in the marathon. Though Bolt can quite easily beat Kipchoge in the 100m dash, he probably won't even finish a marathon. Tadej won't beat Mathieu in a sprint, yet he wins the TDF while MVDP languishes in 50th place. Both are great champions in their respective fields, but my admiration goes to Tadej for trying.FredMan23-03-2025