Dan Martin & Nicolas Roche well placed ahead of Tour team time trial as Simon Gerrans triumphs on stage 3

Simon Gerrans, bottom of shot, lunges to take stage 3 victory at the Tour de France from Peter Sagan into Calvi. It was a great boost for Orica GreenEdge after their bus got stuck under the finishing gantry on stage 1.

By Gavin McLoughlin

There were no difficulties for Nicolas Roche or Dan Martin on stage 3 of the Tour de France today, Monday. Both Irishmen easilyfinished in the lead group on the Tour’s final day in Corsica.

Saxo-Tinkoff super-domestique Roche was among those taking turns to chase as the peloton plunged down the day’s final descent. He finished 23^rd today and remains in 11^th place overall, one second off the race-lead of Jan Bakelants (Radioshack-Leopard).

Garmin-Sharp leader Martin again appeared ultra-comfortable all day, cruising calmly near the front on the day’s final climb. The Liège-Bastogne-Liège winner was 69^th on the stage and lies 59^th on general classification, also one second behind Bakelants.

He and Roche and now very well placed going into tomorrow's team time trial, both with teams that can do very well in the short 25km test in Nice.

Today the riders would tackle an undulating 146 kilometre route from Ajaccio to Calvi. The final climb of the day - the second-category Col de Marsolino - peaked 14 kilometres out, so like yesterday the big question was whether any of the fast men could handle the terrain and fight for stage victory.

Lieuwe Westra (Vacansoleil) darted away immediately when the riders left the neutralised zone and was soon joined up the road by Sébastien Minard (AG2R-La Mondiale), Alexis Vuillermoz (Sojasun), Cyril Gautier (Europcar) and Simon Clarke (Orica-Green Edge). This quintet formed the break of the day as the massed ranks of Radioshack-Leopard set the pace behind.

60 kilometres in and Roche’s Saxo-Tinkoff squad moved to the front, injecting a burst of pace that rapidly reduced the breakaway’s 3-minute advantage. The race passed down a beautiful winding descent surrounded by towering sand-coloured columns of rock, but by the bottom the gap to the leaders had begun to creep up again.

The road ceaselessly curved up and down and before long the Radioshack squad was back in control. The escapees were kept on a short leash and as the lower slopes of the final climb approached they began to attack each other.

Clarke was the last to survive and the Australian fought hard to crest the hill alone, but Pierre Rolland danced away from the peloton to reach the summit firstand strengthen his grip on the polka dot jersey. The Frenchman’s move was soon followed by attacks from Mikel Nieve(Euskaltel-Euskadi) and Lars Petter Nordhaug (Belkin Procycling).

Rolland drove hard for home on the descent as the Irishmen took their places near the head of the pack. Canny Sylvain Chavanel (Omega Pharma-Quick Step) was next to dash away, with a watchful Roche taking his turn to lead the chasers down the slope.

Chavanel rode across to the trio of Rolland, Nieve and Nordhaug and this new lead group chugged along manfully as the road flattened out. Nordhaug attacked with 4 km remaining in an effort to emulate Bakelants’ epic win of yesterday, but there would be no joy for the Dutchman as this time the peloton could not be held off.

Orica-Green Edge spearheaded the drive for the line as the Slovak phenomenon Peter Sagan lurked with intent. In the final metres it came down to a duel between Sagan and Orica man Simon Gerrans, and the punchy Australian somehow defied the odds to take his team’s maiden Tour de France stage win by the slenderest of margins.

Tomorrow’s stage is an essentially flat 25 kilometre team time trial around the streets of Nice. Martin’s Garmin-Sharp team are expected to perform well, and ifall goes to plan the Irishman will be catapulted up the overall standings. Roche and the rest of the Saxo-Tinkoff squad will similarly hope for a strong performance in support of their team leader Alberto Contador.

@gavmcloughlin

Stage 3: Ajaccio to Calvi - 146km

1 Simon Gerrans (Orica-GreenEdge) 3:41:24

2 Peter Sagan (Cannondale)

3 Jose Joaquin Rojas Gil (Movistar)

4 Michal Kwiatkowski (Omega Pharma-Quick Step)