Marcel Kittel wins third stage of Tour du Nord-pas-de-Calais 2011 – Cycling news
Marcel Kittel of the Skil-Shimano team won the third stage of the Tour du Nord-pas-de-Calais 2011.
The race started in Caudry and ended at Le Cateau. Marcel Kittel took a total of 3 hours, 46 minutes and 49 seconds to cover the distance of 171.2 kilometres.
Yauheni Hutarovich of the FDJ Team was the runner-up with the same timing as of Kittel. Denis Galimzyanov of the Katusha team put in a good performance to claim the third position.
The stage was very difficult for the riders. There were four sprints and four mountains in the stage.
After 11 kilometres, a group of five riders including Kristof Goddaert, Niki Terpstra, Johan Le Bon, Mickael Delage and Benoit Daeninck made the first break and took first climb and intermediate sprint points. All of them never gained an advantage of more
than 1 minute and 30 seconds and were caught by the peloton at the 65-kilometre marker.
Just 11 kilometres later, Cofidis’ Remi Cusin made the first move and was joined by the other group of five riders, Anders Lund, Andy Cappelle, Cyril Bessy, Mathieu Claude and Anthony Colin.
The group managed to gain an advantage of four minutes by the time it reached the feeding zone. Colin also gained maximum points to take over the leader’s mountain jersey.
However, in the last 23 kilometres of the race, half of the break was caught and only three riders Cusin, Claude and Cappelle remained in the lead. All of them were caught in the last sprint and Kittel crossed the finish line ahead of other riders.
Previously, Kittel won the Tour de Langkawi and also won the two stages of Quatre Jours de Dunkerque.
Marcel Kittel also took a lead in the overall standing with a timing of 11 hours, 49 minutes and 29 seconds. Aidis Kruopis was the runner-up 30 seconds behind Marcel. Mathieu Claude finished third while Martijn Keizer was in fourth spot with a difference
of 31 seconds.
The next stage will start in Hazebrouck and end at Cassel. All the riders will cover the distance of 189.6 kilometres for victory.
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