Fireworks were flying in France as well as the USA today as American Tyler Farrar (Garmin-Cervelo) took his first career stage win

Tour de France

Stage 3: Olonne-Sur-Mer to Redon, 198km/123mi

By Cathy Mehl

Fireworks were flying in France as well as the USA today as American Tyler Farrar (Garmin-Cervelo) took his first career stage win in the Tour de France, a win dedicated to his best friend Wouter Weylandt of Leopard-Trek who suffered a fatal accident in the Giro d’Italia last May. Second and third places went to Romain Feillu (Vacansoleil) and Jose Joaquin Rojas Gil of Movistar. Team RadioShack celebrated American Independence Day by staying safe in the peloton with Chris Horner, Jani Brajkovic, Levi Leipheimer and Andreas Klöden continuing to hold their GC positions at 10-seconds off the yellow jersey of Thor Hushovd (Garmin-Cervelo).

“Today was a typical day for the first week of the Tour de France,” said Team Manager Johan Bruyneel at the end of the day. “Fast, windy, a lot of nerves in the peloton. Everybody wants to be in the front. I think we did a good job and we kept everybody out of trouble. We were in the front on the Pont du St. Nazaire (bridge) where it was supposed to be windy, and it was windy. After that the goal was to stay focused, keep the team together and make sure nobody was involved in any crashes. You can’t prevent crashes of course, but having the guys up front and protected helps as much as possible. You can’t exclude the possibility of a crash in the front but usually they happen from one-third back to the back of the peloton where guys are fighting to move up. Fortunately today was one more day without problems. So mission accomplished,” concluded a satisfied Johan Bruyneel.

Read more: http://www.livestrong.com/teamradioshack/news_mission-accomplished/