Rodriguez wins Tour third stage, Froome in yellow

Twenty riders were involved in the spectacular crash 100km into the stage that took down Fabian Cancellara, who was the overall race leader at the time.

The high-speed crash has forced three riders to withdraw: William Bonnet, Tom Dumoulin and Simon Gerrans.

Cancellara was able to continue despite feeling “groggy”, according to Alain Gallopin, who is a sports director for Cancellara’s Trek Factory Racing team.

“We were all on the the right-hand side of the bunch and I think it crashed on the left and just went across and we all had nowhere to go”, Gerrans said.

After taking chunks of time out of Nibali and Quintana on Sunday’s rain-soaked and wind-battered second stage, Froome did it again as he accelerated in the last climb.

Despite the loss of his team-mate Kozonchuk, Rodriguez displayed the kind of form which saw him win La Flèche-Wallonne in 2012, with the stage finishing on the same home stretch as the famous Classic.

Cycling expert Chris Fontecchio at Podium Café called the cobble-riddled stage, especially the Nord-Pas de Calais region as hell, not only because it was one of the hardest routes out there, derailed several campaigns such as Froome’s bid for a back-to-back title past year, but because of his macabre history during World War 1. They certainly did. Froome crossed the line in seventh place, 1 minute 28 seconds ahead of Nibali and Quintana, while Contador gained 1:24 on those two after placing 13th.

“It was another hectic day, we knew it would be one on this kind of parcours”, said the 26-year-old, who was second to Froome at last month’s week-long Criterium du Dauphine.

A total of five cyclists had to pull out of this year’s Tour de France, the biggest bike race in the world, due to debilitating injuries.

FDJ rider William Bonnet of France was put in a neck brace after falling off his bike when it seemingly touched a wheel, and others around him were also brought down.

“But, yeah, I really couldn t be happier at this point”.

Fabian Cancellera (in yellow) riding in third stage. “I guess I have to keep the positive, look forward to the second part of the season”, Cancellara conceded.

The Swiss rider managed to get back on his bike and finish the stage at 11:43 behind stage 3’s victor Joaquim Rodriguez.

Froome, though, insists that he and his Sky teammates are ready for whatever the course throws at them.

Only Bernard Hinault has done better than Merckx and Cancellara, wearing the coveted shirt in eight Tours, from 1978 to 1986. “This is a huge advantage for us to be sitting in this position after one flat day out on the road”, Froome said.

There was a 10-minute delay and the ascent of the Tour’s first categorised climb, the category four Cote de Bhissau, was neutralised, with racing beginning again when the peloton crested the summit.