Stage Three Critérium de Dauphiné

167 Km Givors - La Clayette 

Edvald Boasson Hagen won a sprint finish over Gerald Ciolek as Sky celebrated a stage win and another day in yellow for Wiggins. Tomorrow will be an important day in the GC after the one obligatory sprinters stage of today. Wiggins had expressed a desire to lose the maillot jaune today so that he could the ITT in his normal SKY kit. This won't be the case as Wiggins still holds a 1 second lead over Cadel Evans. The ITT course will be used again in the Tour next month and is one reason why the Dauphiné attracts CG stars as they can have a dress rehearsal of an ITT course which is more or less replicated in the Tour.

Luke Durbridge will look for a second win this week but the length of the stage at 53km may prove too long for the young Australian. Tony Martin, Wiggins and Evans will all be looking for a win and chance to improve their GC positions. Andy Schleck will be looking to bounce back from a few poor days in the saddle. After his lost the maillot jaune following the last ITT in the 2011 Tour to Evans, Schleck will be looking to see how he matches it with his rivals over the 53kms. With the course not as suited to climbers as it has been in recent editions Schleck will need to take as much time as possible off his rivals in the mountains if he is to again struggle in the ITTs.

Stage Three Results 

1st Edvald Boasson Hagen (SKY) 04:22:13
2nd Gerald Ciolek (Omega Pharma-Quickstep) ST
3rd Davide Cimolai (Lampre) ST
4th Michael Mathews (Rabobank) ST
5th Nacer Bouhanni (FDJ-Big Mat) St

Standings after Stage Three

GC: Bradley Wiggins (SKY) 13:07:55
2nd Cadel Evans (BMC) +01
3rd Andriy Grivko (Astana) +02
4th Carlos Barredo (Rabobank) +02
5th Tony Martin (Omega Pharma-Quickstep) +04


Points: Tony Gallopin (Radioshack-Nissan) 51 points
2nd Cadel Evans 41 Points 

3rd Edvald Boasson Hagen (SKY) 36 Points


Mountains: Giovanni Bernaudeau (Europcar) 38 Points
2nd Blel Kadri (AG2R) 36 Points
3rd Christophe Kern (Europcar) 31 Points


Young Riders: Tony Gallopin (Radioshack-Nissan) 13:08:07
2nd Rein Taaramae (Cofidis) +03
3rd Wilco Kelderman (Rabobank) +08


Teams: Sky 39:23:58
2nd Rabobank +02
3rd Omega Pharma-Quickstep +04