Paris Nice, stage 3 summary

Stage 3 : Mar 6, Vierzon - Lac de Vassiviere, 194 km

1 Alejandro Valverde (Spa) Movistar Team 4.36.19
2 Simon Gerrans (Aus) GreenEdge Cycling Team
3 Gianni Meersman (Bel) Lotto-Belisol Team
4 Luis Leon Sanchez Gil (Spa) Rabobank Cycling Team
5 Xavier Florencio Cabre (Spa) Katusha Team
6 Eros Capecchi (Ita) Liquigas-Cannondale
7 Maxime Monfort (Bel) RadioShack-Nissan
8 Jonathan Hivert (Fra) Saur-Sojasun
9 Francesco Gavazzi (Ita) Astana Pro Team
10 Lieuwe Westra (Ned) Vacansoleil-DCM


Changes in GC, stage 3 compared to stage 2 :

Biggest gainers by position :
+45 Xavier Florencio Cabre
+44 Mickael Cherel
+44 Jeremie Galland
+43 Sylvester Szmyd
+43 Giampaolo Caruso
+41 Thomas Voeckler
+41 Damiano Cunego
+39 Guillaume Levarlet
+39 David Lelay
+38 Giovanni Bernaudeau

Biggest losers by position :
-93 Karsten Kroon
-85 Michael Morkov
-76 Taylor Phinney
-66 Andreas Klier
-66 Tom Boonen
-60 John Degenkolb
-60 Sep Vanmarcke
-59 Nikolas Maes
-56 Jaroslaw Marycz
-53 Jose Ivan Gutierrez Palacios
-52 Danny Pate

Biggest gainers by time :
+0:10 Alejandro Valverde Belmonte
+0:06 Simon Gerrans
+0:04 Gianni Meersman

Biggest losers by time :
-14:18 Jaroslaw Marycz
-14:18 Lars Ytting Bak
-14:18 Olivier Kaisen
-9:51 Damien Gaudin
-9:48 Danny Pate
-9:48 Karsten Kroon
-9:48 Michael Morkov
-9:48 Xabier Zandio Echaide
-7:52 Christophe Le Mevel
-6:03 Adrian Saez
-6:03 Alexander Kristoff

Favourites by position :
+41 Thomas Voeckler
+41 Damiano Cunego
+38 Frank Schleck
+37 David Arroyo Duran
+31 Denis Menchov
+18 Luis Leon Sanchez Gil
+18 Janez Brajkovic
-6 Ivan Basso
-12 Andreas Kloden
-13 Bauke Mollema
-32 Tony Martin
-45 Rein Taaramae

Favourites by time :
-0:12 David Arroyo Duran
-0:40 Bauke Mollema
-1:04 Andreas Kloden
-1:45 Tony Martin
-1:46 Ivan Basso
-3:40 Rein Taaramae

Top 10 and favourites GC standings (previous stage in parens) :
1 Bradley Wiggins 9:09:51 (unchanged)
2 Levi Leipheimer 0:06 (unchanged)
3 Tejay Van Garderen 0:11 (was 4th at 0:11)
4 Sylvain Chavanel 0:14 (was 5th at 0:14)
5 Maxime Monfort 0:18 (was 6th at 0:18)
6 Alejandro Valverde Belmonte 0:20 (was 11th at 0:30)
7 Lieuwe Westra 0:22 (was 8th at 0:22)
8 Jose Joaquin Rojas Gil 0:29 (was 10th at 0:29)
9 Simon Spilak 0:33 (was 13th at 0:33)
10 Robert Kiserlovski 0:36 (was 14th at 0:36)
.....
24 Luis Leon Sanchez Gil 3:00 (was 42nd at 3:00)
.....
34 Denis Menchov 3:13 (was 65th at 3:13)
.....
41 Frank Schleck 3:25 (was 79th at 3:25)
.....
45 Damiano Cunego 3:28 (was 86th at 3:28)
46 Thomas Voeckler 3:29 (was 87th at 3:29)
.....
49 Bauke Mollema 3:37 (was 36th at 2:57)
.....
51 David Arroyo Duran 3:41 (was 88th at 3:29)
.....
63 Andreas Kloden 4:11 (was 51st at 3:07)
.....
66 Tony Martin 4:41 (was 34th at 2:56)
.....
110 Janez Brajkovic 11:40 (was 128th at 11:40)
.....
140 Ivan Basso 13:29 (was 134th at 11:43)
.....
151 Rein Taaramae 14:53 (was 106th at 11:13)

Top 10 on Points table with previous in parens:
1 Alejandro Valverde 39 (was 15th with 14 points)
2 Bradley Wiggins 36 (was 2nd with 35 points)
3 Tom Boonen 35 (was 1st with 35 points)
4 Maxime Monfort 35 (was 8th with 21 points)
5 Tejay Van Garderen 34 (was 3rd with 27 points)
6 Levi Leipheimer 31 (was 4th with 26 points)
7 Francesco Gavazzi 28 (was 12th with 16 points)
8 Gustav Larsson 25 (was 5th with 25 points)
9 Sylvain Chavanel 22 (was 6th with 22 points)
10 Jose Joaquin Rojas Gil 22 (was 7th with 22 points)

Top 10 on Mountains table with previous in parens:
1 Thomas De Gendt 6 (unchanged)
2 Alejandro Valverde 4 (was 0 points)
3 Roy Curvers 4 (was 0 points)
4 Olivier Kaisen 4 (was 2nd with 4 points)
5 Sylvain Chavanel 2 (was 3rd with 2 points)
6 Simon Gerrans 2 (was 0 points)
7 Jimmy Engoulvent 2 (was 0 points)
8 Bart De Clercq 2 (was 4th with 2 points)
9 Gianni Meersman 1 (was 0 points)
10 Michael Morkov 1 (was 0 points)

Retirements to date : Stage
Aidis Kruopis (Ltu) GreenEdge Cycling Team 3
Andy Schleck (Lux) RadioShack-Nissan 3
Vladimir Isaychev (Rus) Katusha Team 3
Nick Nuyens (Bel) Team Saxo Bank 2
Total retirements : 4


(This report can also be seen at http://homepage.ntlworld.com/rvmartin2)