Columbia Has Surprise For Tour's Stage 3

For awhile, it looked like stage 3 of the Tour de France would go according to expectations. As the race started, four riders broke away from the peloton. They were able to put as much as 12 minutes between themselves and the peloton, but it was not to last. With about 20 miles to go in the race, they were swallowed up by the peloton and it looked like the race would finish like stage 2 -- with the sprinters going for the win out of the peloton, and everyone receiving the same time.

But America's team Columbia had a different idea. As they headed into a strong crosswind about 18 miles out, nine riders from Columbia took off. Only 18 other riders were paying enough attention to see what was happening and took off with them -- race leader Fabian Cancellara and Lance Armstrong among them.

These 27 riders were able to open a gap of over 30 seconds over the peloton, and they maintained that gap all the way to the finish line. This allowed these riders to actually pick up nearly 40 seconds of time over the field and shook up the overall standings. Columbia's Mark Cavendish was able to win his second stage in a row, while Norweigan Thor Hushovd finished second.

While Cancellara retained the yellow jersey, Lance Armstrong worked his way up to third in the overall standings. Armstrong's team, Astana, is regarded as the favorite in tomorrowa's team trial, and if they win as expected, it could put Armstrong in the yellow jersey as race leader. Here are the standings after stage 3's surprise finish:

YELLOW JERSEY (OVERALL LEADERS)
1. Fabian Cancellara (Saxo Bank)
2. Tony Martin (Columbia)..........0.33
3. Lance Armstrong (Astana)..........0.40
4. Alberto Contador (Astana)..........0.59
5. Bradley Wiggins (Garmin)..........1.00
6. Andreas Kloden (Astana)..........1.03
7. Linus Gerdemann (Milram)..........1.03
8. Cadel Evans (Lotto)..........1.04
9. Maxime Monfort (Columbia)..........1.10
10. Levi Leipheimer (Astana)..........1.11

GREEN JERSEY (SPRINTERS)
1. Mark Cavendish (Columbia)..........70 pts
2. Thor Hushovd (Cervelo)..........54 pts
3. Samuel Dumoulin (Cofidis)..........36 pts
4. Fabian Cancellara (Saxo Bank)..........35 pts
5. Maxim Bouet (Agritubel)..........31 pts
6. Tyler Farrar (Garmin)..........30 pts

POLKA DOT JERSEY (CLIMBERS)
1. Jussi Veikkanen (Francaise)..........9 pts
2. Tony Martin (Columbia)..........6 pts
3. Koen De Kort (Skil-Shimano)..........6 pts
4. Cyril Dessel (AG2R)..........5 pts
5. Maxime Bouet (Agritubel)..........4 pts

TEAM STANDINGS
1. Astana
2. Columbia..........1.46
3. Saxo Bank..........1.53
4. Garmin..........2.47
5. Cofidis..........3.14