Tour de France 2011 Live Coverage: Tyler Farrar Wins Stage 3, Captures First Ever Stage Win

American sprinter Tyler Farrar, partially thanks to some disorganization in the peloton and a great lead-out from his team, has won his first career Tour de France stage, winning a sprint on Stage 3. HTC-Highroad, the team of Mark Cavendish, appeared to be in control for most of the lead-in to the sprint, but Garmin-Cervelo eventually took control at the front of the pack and were successful in getting a second stage win of the tour, after winning the team time trial in Stage 2.

The entire HTC-Highroad team was at the front with three kilometers to go, but Cavendish somehow lost the wheel of his lead-out man Mark Renshaw and ended up behind a couple of other riders, making room for another team to take control. Garmin-Cervelo took over, and Farrar’s lead-out was perfect. Thor Hushovd, wearing the Maillot Jaune, did most of the lead-out with Julian Dean taking Ferrar the rest of the way from around 700 meters to 200 meters, when Farrar took off by himself to get the win. Cavendish recovered well to get fifth place, but he’ll be left wondering what could have been after squandering his team’s dominance at the front.

Jose Joaquin Rojas grabbed the green jersey with his third place finish today, but Farrar and Cavendish went a long way towards getting into that competition. With his finish in the leading group, Hushovd will hang on to yellow. Tomorrow’s finish is an uphill one, so Hushovd will have some competition for his yellow from the likes of Cadel Evans, Fabian Cancellara and Geraint Thomas, who is wearing the white jersey.

If you’re looking for live coverage and updates online, be sure to stay with our 2011 Tour de France StoryStream. Get geared up for the 2011 Tour de France with Podium Cafe’s five storylines to watch. Also be sure to check out the full route and schedule for this year’s race.