French riders shine in TDF

2008-07-07 18:19

Nantes, France - Samuel Dumoulin of France won the third stage of the Tour de France on Monday by leading a small group of sprinters to the finish.

French rider Romain Feillu was just beaten to the line and finished third, but has taken the race leader's yellow jersey from Alejandro Valverde, who led since winning Saturday's first stage.

"I have always dreamed of winning a stage," Dumoulin said. "I have felt good since the start of the year."

American rider William Frischkorn took second place, a fraction ahead of Feillu in third spot.

As the race headed into the last 1.6km, Dumoulin pulled ahead briefly but Feillu stuck to his wheel and overtook him. Dumoulin then had the better acceleration and went ahead again about 300m from the line, and Frischkorn just edged out Feillu.

Feillu, who rides for Agritubel, leads overall from Italian rider Paolo Longo Borghini, who finished the stage in fourth place and is 35 seconds behind in the standings.

Frischkorn, a rider with the Garmin Chipotle team, is 1 minute, 42 seconds back in third spot, and Valverde is 1:45 behind in fourth.

However, the 28-year-old Valverde is expected to win that time back in Tuesday's time trial, the first real test for the Tour contenders.

Dumoulin had to pull out of the 2004 Tour after crashing into a dog.

- AP