Tour De France Live

3.40pm: Vladimir Karpets joke department ... First, Owen Hudner: "Any truth in the rumour that Vladimir Karpets has failed a rugs test? I'll get my coat …" "Did the commentator really just say Karpets weaving in and out of those team cars," asks Andrew Humphrey. Yes, yes he did. I said something similar.

3.34pm: Aidan Mehigan's saddle theory is not popular. David Roth Singerman is the latest to take umbrage. "Re: 'Aidan Mehigan reckons that "with a saddle slightly at an angle, the riders can push a bigger gear for longer. Well that is the theory anyway. It is the same as EPO." Pushing a bigger gear for longer" is sort of the point of everything to do with racing bicycles ..." There is some suggestion that Karpets may have been involved in a crash but that's unconfirmed and we haven't seen any footage of it or signs that he collided with an object or other rider. Karpets is now weaving through the traffic to try and rejoin the pack. He may as well be cycling through London.

3.30pm: Vladimir Karpets has fallen way behind but doesn't seem too bothered by it at the moment. He has a problem with his bike and quickly switches to a new one, gets a push up the hill (is that allowed?) and is now back trying to catch up.

3.28pm: "Flushed with the success of getting on the PBP with my first mail of the year, here are some random thoughts on the intermediate sprints," writes David Hudson. " At one time they had their own competition: Red jersey sponsored by "BUT" the fly killer company. With the loss of the sponsor and the jersey they lost some relevance, except perhaps as means of giving some prominence to the village in which they take place and so act a bit like those TGV stations in the middle of nowhere: a palliative for damaged civic pride. However, now we are just down to one intermediate it is probably time to drop the idea altogether."

3.25pm: Four riders, including Ben Swift, got into a spot of bother on that bridge are are now working hard to rejoin the peloton. Maybe they stopped for a photo. "Dan McKeown's previous suggestions for spicing up the points a bit sound great on paper," says David Noble. "However, you only need to watch the London Marathon coverage for over 35 seconds or so to realise just how incredibly tedious people being "wacky" en masse on telly is."

3.22pm: Either Andrew Cotton has too much time on his hands or he's having a 'relaxing' day at the office. Either way he's come up with some pretty good figures ... "Just crunched the Green Jersey numbers following the intermediate sprint, Mark Cavendish has 15 points and if he did win today's stage he would have a total of 60. Only four men could then keep him out of the Green Jersey tonight. Gilbert is currently on 51 points so would need to finish 11th or better. Thor Hushovd (34 points), Jose Joaquin Rojas (34 points) and Cadel Evans (35 points) could also deny Cav green by finishing in the top 3. My prediction: Cav to win but Philippe Gilbert to keep Green with an 8th place finish."

3.20pm: "Perhaps the most interesting thing about the Tour de France so far is Cadel Evans' penchant for the number two," writes James Mehigan. "He has now come second in two consecutive stages and held second place in the green jersey and (technically) the polka dot jersey competitions for two consecutive days. He has spent one day in the number two slot of the general classification and his team is now in the number two spot of the team classification. The only thing he hasn't come in at number two in is the white jersey (which he is ineligible for, to be fair). I really like Cadel but it's such a pity he's so fond of second place. Keep up the good work on the pedal by pedal."

3.19pm: James Keasley answers Gary Edwards's question: "Nope, it is kind of common, and I think Eddie Merckx won all three jerseys twice."

3.17pm: ... And the winner of the mountain point if the same man as the sprint points, Mickael Delange. That's 21 points for the day for the FDJ man.

3.12pm: We're coming to the climb now over the spectacular Saint-Nazaire bridge over the Loire. As a category four climb there is one point on offer. Gary Edwards has a question: "If Gilbert manages to get into the King of the mountains jersey somehow would he be the first person to where all three jerseys in one tour?"

3.07pm: "Found this link showing the SRM data of a few riders, says Shriram Jambunathan. "It may have a few issues every now and then. Don't bother searching for Andrey Zeits, he is somewhere in Ghana. Talking of SRM data this was Cancellara's in De Ronde van Vlaanderen Max Speed 80 kph Max Heart Rate 190 Max Power- astonishing 1450 W, Max acceleration upto 147 rpm, by contrast Andre Griepel had a max power of 1353 W(in a sprint finish). The sprinters will go for the intermediate sprints on hilly or mountain stages I think. Hushovd going for intermediate points may mean he will lead out Farrar today, thought that might change with him wearing yellow."

3.03pm: "Just to downplay expectations," writes Graham Fulcher, "here are some Cavendish statistics:

Number of Grand Tours started - 8
Mass sprint stage wins - 25 (ie a little over 3 per GT)
Number of times won the first mass sprint - 1 (the 2009 Tour)

In a classic case of "fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me" it seems that Cavendish is normally caught out by a rival early on but once he starts winning is close to unbeatable. On past form, the man most likely to beat him is Petacchi who has managed it in Giro, Tour and Vuelta."

3.00pm: A lengthy email from Daniel McKeown: "It will be interesting to see how the changes to the points competition affect it, although I really think they should have done away with the 'intermediate' sprints altogether, as they seem to rather defeat the point of what a sprinter should be about: lurking at the back and then picking everyone off in the final straight. I guess the intermediate sprints kind of guarantee a 'true run race' but they just seem gimmicky and worthless to me. Perhaps they're a good thing to have if they're staged in some town en route to give the denizens something to cheer. Actually, balls to all that - I've just had a much better idea: the points competition should be decided as a treasure hunt. At the start of the day, the riders get a list of things they have to bring to the finish line with them (eg. a horseshoe, a piece of chalk, something with Chinese writing on it, etc). They could also be asked to do activities in designated areas, eg. there could be one stretch of road where everybody has to do as many bunny hops as possible. If this year's changes don't work out, this could be the way forward."

2.55pm: "What's with the 'casual' in your email address?" asks David Godman. "Are you a seasonal casual at The Guardian? The intern? A strike-breaking scab? Do reveal all." I'm just very relaxed, that's all.

2.50pm: Yes let's have the green jersey going to the mad fellas with the eyeballs out going for the line," says Gary Naylor. "But let's have the Combined Jersey too. And, especially, the La Vie Claire Mondrian team jersey - the best kit ever in any sport." I assume you mean this one.

2.47pm: An interesting stat from the Tour de France website ...

In the previous two editions of the Tour de France Cavendish only ever scored points in one intermediate sprint. In stage one of the 2011 Tour he was 11th in the intermediate and today he was sixth. That means that the dominant sprinter of his generation has only taken points in three intermediate sprints since the start of the 2009 Tour.

2.41pm: There is a discussion of illegal TTing positions here," writes Daniel Brett. "Basically there are rules, the teams regularly break them/they are not enforced. The UCI warned the teams that they would be enforced and Saxo and RS (two of the worst offenders for illegal TT positions) got busted."

2.38pm: A tweet from VeloNews editor John Wilcockson ...

Guess Cav psyched himself up for the intermediate sprint—nice warm-up for the st3 finish in Redon; but look for echelons after the bridge.

2.24pm: Mark Cavendish breaks through to lead the pack on the intermediate sprint. He's sixth in total and picks up 10 points. Denis Galimzyanov is seventh while Tom Boonen is ninth and stage one winner, Philippe Gilbert, is 10th.

2.20pm: Interestingly the sprinters stayed away from the intermediate sprint allowing the breakaway group to share the points among themselves. "Sean Kelly is right," declares Aidan Mehigan. "He doesn't think this will work. He was also not an out and out sprinter, but rather very consistent, so this new system, would have been a pig for him back in the day. only Erik Zabel (an out and out sprinter), who is now Cav's coach, has won more green Jerseys than Kelly."

2.18pm: Mickael Delange holds off the challenge of Jose Gutierrez to win the intermediate sprint and take the 20 points. Gutierrez has to settle for 17 points while Maxime Bouet gets 15 for finishing third.

2.11pm: The gap is beginning to close as the intermediate sprint looms. There are 20 points on offer to the winner and in total 15 riders can pick up points in the new system which is designed so that the best sprinter wins the green jersey rather than the most consistent finisher. Sean Kelly, on Eurosport, says it's trial and error as to whether it will actually work. What does anyone else think?

2.09pm: Here's an interesting tweet from Infostrada Sport ...

Contador is 75th in the overall classification, after being 82nd after stage 1. Before this #TdF, Contador never was outside the top 50.

2.00pm: Some trouble for Nicholas Roche who needs a new rear tyre but he's back on the road now. "So Zabriskie is running a vegan diet as the odd piece of fish clearly does not count," writes David Hudson. "In the sane vein I'm waiting for UCI to announce that this is the first "Clean tour" as the odd bit of EPO doesn't count."

1.55pm: There's not an awful lot happening I'm afraid. The leading five riders are seven minutes and 40 seconds ahead of the pack. We're about 15km from the intermediate sprint which will be the first real bit of drama of the day. With the number of intermediate sprints reduced from three to one it means there is a significant number of points on offer.

1.52pm: A tweet from IG Pro Cycling Index

The much talked about stat today is that No American Rider has ever won a stage on the 4th of July. Can Tyler Farrar do it?

1.48pm: "All this is a nonsense," writes David in relation to saddle-gate. "You won't get any gain by a one degree saddle angle. It is just a matter of riders feeling comfortable on their bikes."

1.40pm: Matt Rendell has tweeted a differing perspective on today's weather to that of the Eurosport commentary team who insist that there is no breeze today.

I think there must be a bit of wind about. Otherwise, how do five pursuit/ITT specialists manage to average only 39.8 kph?

1.36pm: Here is an interesting article from the Wall Street Journal on David Zabriskie's Vegan diet (which Sean highlighted in yesterday's pedal-by-pedal report). With Novak Djokovic citing his gluten-free diet as one the main reasons for his improved form this year I wonder is Vegan and gluten-free the way forward for sports men and women? Here's an extract from the Zabriskie piece ...

To climb the Tour de France's steep mountain passes and cross its scorching plains, cyclists have tried stuffing themselves full of steak and pasta, gulping down wine and cognac, smoking cigarettes, taking amphetamines and, of course, using other drugs during the race's 107-year history. On Saturday, American David Zabriskie plans to try something entirely new: Riding the Tour on a vegan diet.
Experts say he is the first cyclist to attempt the most difficult bike race in the world sans meat, dairy or eggs. (He will cheat slightly, he says, because he plans to eat small amounts of salmon two days per week to increase iron absorption).
Cyclists in the Tour de France can burn 8,000 calories a day—so many that some riders, already lean from their training, are unable to eat enough food to keep up with calorie loss.

1.34pm: Aidan Mehigan reckons that "with a saddle slightly at an angle, the riders can push a bigger gear for longer. Well that is the theory anyway. It is the same as EPO."

1.31pm: Sean Kelly has just wondered if Mark Cavendish is at his best yet and that would seem to be the burning question. He is undoubtedly the best sprinter in the field but he usually starts the Tour slowly and that would seem to be his biggest obstacle today.

1.28pm: We're about 58 kilometres into today's stage. The intermediate sprint is at the 104km mark and the category four climb is after 143km, but you would already know all that if you have been playing with ourexcellent interactive guide.

1.22pm: Any chance you can enlighten us on the story about saddle angles?" asks Michael. "There was a story that said the bike seats must be parallel to the ground and that teams not complying would be penalised. What I don't understand is what is to be gained from them not being parallel to the ground?" To be perfectly honest I'm not sure exactly what is to be gained by having the saddles at an angle but I do know that it has was the source of some friction yesterday, as you can see here.

Two team officials have been fined after rows broke out over the strict enforcement of a regulation on saddles in the Tour de France. The RadioShack manager, Johan Bruyneel, was fined 200 Swiss francs (£146.80) for improper conduct towards officials in the zone where the bikes were being checked, organisers said. The Saxo Bank sports director, Bradley McGee, was also fined after one of his staff members was found guilty of improper conduct.
International Cycling Union (UCI) regulations state that saddles must be parallel to the ground, but the rule had not been strictly enforced before Sunday's second stage, a 23km time trial around Les Essarts.
"Before it just had to be 'flattish', now it has to be perfectly flat to the ground," said the BMC team chief mechanic, Ian Sherburne. "They were insisting that the saddle be perfectly level which isn't how the rules had been interpreted. They're deciding to enforce the rule in a different way, right now."
Bruyneel said the timing of the action was bad. "We had the same saddle settings at the Tour of Switzerland and the Dauphiné [last month] and it was not a problem. Now they decide to do this on the biggest race in the world."
Sherburne said team mechanics had to change the angle of the saddles before the start of the stage. The UCI said it had warned the teams last month that the regulations would be strictly applied.
"That's what happens in this milieu," said a UCI spokesman, Enrico Carpani. "You just want to enforce a rule and everybody is protesting."

1.18pm: We're up and running finally (or at least we are in terms of television pictures). The pelaton has just passed the 50km mark with the front group of five now six minutes and 10 seconds ahead of the pack. That group of five comprise Ruben Perez, Jose Gutierrez, Maxime Bouet, Niki Terpstra and Mickael Delage.

1.09pm: "Maybe today's fav is Cav," writes David from Catalonia, "but better watch out for Mr Tornado Boonen. He is need of a victory for his low profile season."

1.04pm: I'm still waiting on live pictures but I can tell you that a breakaway group of five, led by Ruben Perez, have opened up a five an a half minute lead from the pack. While I'm waiting for live pictures why not have a look at video highlights from yesterday's team time-trial?

12.56pm: "The Cat 4 Climb on the stage today is actually a bridge the Cote du Pont de Saint Nazaire," writes Shiram Jambunathan. "If winds pick up today then there is every chance of the field breaking up but the stage would have been much better if the finish was not too far away from the bridge and teams given less time to recover. The bridge caused a lot of problems in 2000. There is a round about with 5km to the finish and also a railway crossing not too far from the finish which could mess up plans of sprinters. Liquigas the most efficient TTT team in the peloton (getting the most out of an average bunch of ITT men) had a disaster yesterday."

Here is an extract from Nicolas Roche's column in the Irish Independent where he details Saturday's crash-ridden opening stage. You can read the full article here.

As usual, today's opening stage was littered with crashes. I don't know why it happens, but every year is the same and if you don't fall or get held up by someone else falling in the first week of the Tour, then you should offer your services as a route planner in a minefield.
There were so many crashes today, I didn't see a third of them until I watched the highlights on TV afterwards. Eager to get his altercation with the road out of the way early, German sprinter Andre Greipel was on his arse in the middle of the peloton before we even hit the official start line. It wasn't even 40km into the race when I fell, hitting the deck for a record fifth time this year.
As the guys ahead of me slammed on the brakes and ploughed into each other, I wasn't unduly worried as I saw it coming and had time to stop without doing any damage. But then some guy from Katusha, who was obviously looking elsewhere, just smashed me in the back.
I fell on my chainring and it dug into my shin, so I have another open wound on my leg to add to the collection of cuts and abrasions from my crash at the Criterium du Dauphine three weeks ago.
The only good thing about today's fall was, because the teeth of the chainring are sharp, at least the cut is clean. Although it was very sore at the time, it didn't bleed much and a bandage should sort it out. As the race went on I forgot about my leg but noticed my wrist was getting a bit sore.

The Tour de France is the perfect excuse to watch this clip again. Not that you need much of an excuse.

Preamble Good afternoon and welcome to live pedal-by-pedal coverage of the third stage of this year's Tour de France. Today we travel from Olonne sur Mer to Redon and do so at speed as this stage is the day the battle for the green jersey really takes off so we can expect to see plenty of elbows as riders go back to basics to try and get themselves in the best position for the sprint finish.

Mark Cavendish is odds-on favourite to win this 198km stage as the HTC rider will have put a big red circle on this date in his diary as a potential points-earner. If you haven't already checked out our Tour de France interactive then you really should and you can do right here. You can also view highlights of yesterday's team time-trial right here.
Below is William Fotheringham's preview of today's stage from the aforementioned interactive guide

First flat stage finish for the sprinters, with the only intermediate climb the Saint-Nazaire bridge over the Loire. The final kilometre looks relatively safe but nerves will still be frayed. Cavendish will have targeted this one in his bid to win the green jersey.

And here is race director Jean-Francois Pescheux's preview from theofficial Tour de France site.

"We are heading out of the Vendée and into Brittany, crossing the Loire via the Saint-Nazaire bridge, which is the high point of this stage. There is no real difficulty and it seems ideal for the sprinters. They will have to take advantage of this opportunity because they are going to realise very quickly that there aren't a lot of finishes that suit them. They will have to take care, though: if the wind gets up off the sea, echelons could form in the closing kilometres."