Well, the headline from this stage highlights one of Svein’s teammates, Tyler Farrar. He did what few casual observers would think possible nowadays: beat Team Columbia’s Mark Cavendish head to head in the closing sprint. Cavendish has not only demonstrated amazing acceleration in the final 200 meters, he is from all appearances utterly confident in his ability to beat anyone when the chips are down.
Svein’s numbers:
Stage 3, 166 kilometers from Fucecchio to Santa Croce sull’Arnoa.
Stage 3 finish: 107th, same time as stage winner Tyler Farrar.
G.C. placing after Stage 3: 127th, 8:59 behind leader Julien El Fares.
See Velonews writeup and standings . Team Garmin-Slipstream writeup here . Tirreno-Adriatico page at Steephill.tv.
Also of note: Garmin-Slipstream’s Julian Dean’s Tirreno-Adriatico diary at Cycling News. Reviewing Stage 1, he is brutally critical of his own performance:
I wasn’t good at all today and it was a stage where I should’ve been good. It was a final that would normally be perfect for me and I was bad. We had a 4km climb, 15km from the finish – not too unlike the finish of San Remo – and when we got to the bottom of it I couldn’t follow the second group, let alone the front group!!!