After two frenetic finishes in the first two days of the Tour de France, the riders are in no hurry to complete stage three, with the average speed for the the first 100km or so standing at around 33kph – more than half an hour slower than the slowest time schedule.
It’s hardly surprising – it’s the Tour’s longest stage and there’s a solo breakaway from a rider who is essentially being humoured by the peloton, who aren’t trying to bring him back.
Twitter users have made a few funnies about the slow state of play, starting with the guy from Pro Cycling Stats falling asleep on his laptop.
https://twitter.com/ProCyclingStats/status/749955569453240320
Nick Burton sums it up well. The peloton are ambling along like it’s a Sunday club ride…where’s the café stop?
If you can't watch live coverage of le Tour, at the moment its basically a man on a lone training ride being followed by a chatting club run
— Nick Burton (@cervelo_nick) July 4, 2016
Matt Slater is certainly enjoying it.
Early days in this marathon, I know, but today's TdF stage is a good advert for a lot less cycling
— Matt Slater (@mjshrimper) July 4, 2016
As is William Fotheringham…
slow day at the office… https://t.co/7yUQOZfAJQ
— William Fotheringham (@willfoth) July 4, 2016
>>> This is what you have to eat to compete in the Tour de France
Even the Tour’s own media team is getting a bit bored.
On a slow motion https://t.co/bMiZkEWfEw #TDF2016
— Radio Tour – EN 🇬🇧 (@radiotour_en) July 4, 2016
As is Tom Dumoulin.
Zzzz… Tom Dumoulin sums up stage 3 to a tee. Watch #TDF2016 on Eurosport Player https://t.co/sP0qQBPQCX https://t.co/uGUGNxzCKo
— Eurosport UK (@Eurosport_UK) July 4, 2016
Here’s a lovely bit of banter about Armindo Fonseca’s doomed breakaway…I just gave away the answer, didn’t I?
Today's lone break @ArmindoFonseca passes the time with moto time keeper #TDF2016 pic.twitter.com/xkDoWuE3Io
— Simon Warren (@100Climbs) July 4, 2016
Castelli Café had to backtrack on their prediction of a fast stage.
@CastelliCafe ok maybe not that fast……
— Ciao Scorpione! (@CastelliCafe) July 4, 2016
And Dr Hutch finds the silver lining. There will definitely be some more exciting stages over the next three weeks.
Console yourself with the knowledge that until you've seen a boring bike race you can't truly appreciate an exciting one. #TDF
— Michael Hutchinson (@Doctor_Hutch) July 4, 2016
