The 3rd day of racing at the Tour du Poitou Charentes saw a road stage in the morning and an individual time trial in the afternoon. Marc Sarreau (FDJ) won the 98km road stage from our Tyler Farrar while Adriano Malori (Movistar) won the time trial.

At just 98km in length the morning stage was almost always going to be a bunch sprint. In the end that was exactly how the stage panned out and Tyler Farrar was the man for the day for MTN-Qhubeka. Gerald Ciolek did superbly well to deliver the American fast man to a great place to start the sprint from but unfortunately what looked like a sure win, ended with a 2nd place.

“I thought I was going to win but I broke the back tire loose in the last curve at 150m to go. By the time I recovered I was a bike length behind the guy and I had to do my whole sprint just to get back up to him. It was good to be back up there in the mix but I couldn't have done it without Gerald. He did a really great job in positioning me during the run in,” Tyler Farrar said.

The afternoon time trial would be a tough test for the riders but one that the young Nic Dougall had been looking forward to for some time. With time trial stars like Tony Martin and Adriano Malori at the start, it would be a true test for the young South African. Dougall did well over the 23km course to maintain an average speed of 47km/h, good enough for 21st on the day.

“I gave everything I had during the time trial and I felt it went pretty well. It was solid but not spectacular and I know there is definitely room for improvement. I am still happy with how it went and it was against a pretty good field too. I was only 20 seconds off a top 10 against some of the specialists so I feel like I can definitely compete with those guys in the future,” Nic Dougall said.