Riders at the team time trial on Stage 2 of the 2019 Tour de France. Photo: ASO/Alex Broadway
Tour de France 2019: Stage 3 profile, prediction, time and Stage 2 pictures
Here’s everything you need to know about Stage 3 of the 2019 Tour de France.
Riders at the team time trial on Stage 2 of the 2019 Tour de France. Photo: ASO/Alex Broadway
Jumbo-Visma stormed to victory on the Tour de France team time-trial on Sunday. Mike Teunissen will start Stage 3 in yellow as the first of many long and gruelling stages beckon.
Watch: Mini bunny hop helps rider avoid Tour de France crash
Concerns over defending champion Geraint Thomas’s form after his fall Saturday were put to bed after Ineos were the best of the rest and put some time into all their key rivals.
Those looking for signs this will be an open and competitive Tour de France will see the minimal time differences between the main contenders as an indication of how tight it is.
The times for the team time-trial are taken from the fourth man crossing the line, while dropped riders take their own time, as with Vuelta a Espana champion Simon Yates, who was left behind with 10km to race.
Tour de France 2019: Stage 3 profile
Get read for one hell of a ride. This will be the first taste of the climbs to come. But it’s also the perfect stage for those who are audacious. Get to the hills early on, make a climb – and then launch an attack to the backend. This is made for riders who have no fear. With four categorised climbs in the final 40-odd kilometres, whoever goes for it on the initial flat bits should be in with a good change.
Distance: 215km
Profile: A first taste of the hills to come, particularly at the back end.
Prediction
If Julian Alaphilippe’s team can lead him through that initial stretch, the final parts of this stage are his for the taking. But it also means he’ll be a marked man early on. It’s up to his team to protect him. And, of course, you can never rule out Peter Sagan… especially not when he started off the tour being pipped in a sprint.
How to watch and start time
The action will be live on SuperSport 5 from 12:00 and should finish at around 17:30. If you don’t have a Dstv subscription, you can follow Le Tour’s YouTube channel for all the highlights.
What happened on Stage 2
It was team time trial day. No crashes and no real upsets. Read all about it here.
Additional reporting by AFP.
