Tyler Farrar wins 3rd stage of Tour de France

Happy 4th of July!

To celebrate Tyler Farrar of Wenatchee, Washington won the 3rd stage of the Tour de France. He's my favorite rider and this was so awesome following the day after Team Garmin Cervelo won the team time trial.

As he crossed the finish line Farrar held up his hands to make a "W" with his fingers to honor his friend Wouter Weylandt. Weylandt died in a crash during the Giro d'Italia in May.


“It’s a dream to win today. I was close the past few Tours, second, third, second, so to win a stage is incredible,” Farrar said.

“To have the world champion and yellow jersey leading you out is amazing. Our team was perfect today, with Millar and Dean and Hushovd. The first objectives were to win the team time trial and to win a stage. Now we’ll what the rest of the Tour brings.”

Garmin-Cervélo proudly rode at the front of the peloton to protect the leader’s jersey held by Hushovd. Five riders peeled off the front early and methodically built up a seven-minute, but it was all for naught as Garmin kept up steady to pressure to assure that Hushovd would arrive to the line with chances to defend his yellow jersey as well as challenge for the stage victory.

“The objective today was to win with Tyler and keep the jersey,” Hushovd said. “After winning yesterday and having the jersey, now we win a stage, it’s perfect. We’ll see tomorrow if we can keep the streak going.”

Dave Zabriskie, Ramunas Navardauskas and Tom Danielson took turns setting tempo on the front of the peloton to keep the pressure. Strong crosswinds became a factor, especially over the day’s lone climb at a bridge over the Loire at Saint-Nazaire. The team rode perfectly to set up Farrar. Millar took a long pull in the closing 500 meters, before Hushovd then long-time leadout man Dean finishing off the work to set up Farrar. French rider Romain Feillu came through second and JJ Rojas was third, but Farrar won with style in his first-career Tour de France stage victory.

Farrar also becomes the first American to win a Tour stage on the Fourth of July.

Congrats Tyler! Way to represent not only your country but also Washington!