On the day when John Lelangue announced his departure from BMC, Greg Van Avermaet gave the team something to celebrate as he won the third stage of the Tour de Wallonie. In a photo finish, he held off Tom Van Asbroeck (Topspor Vlaanderen) while Alexandr Kolobnev (Katusha) overcame a flurry of attacks in the difficult finale to defend his 6-second lead over Anthony Geslin (FDJ).

The Tour de France was no success for BMC and to add to its woes, sports director John Lelangue announced his departure earlier today. As is custom in the American squad, the man to save the team when the future looks most bleak, is Greg Van Avermaet who took a beautiful win in today's very tough third stage of the Tour de Wallonie.

The Belgian emerged as the fastest from a select 30-rider bunch that caught Dries Devenyns (Omega Pharma-Quick Step) with less than 400m to the line. Tom Van Asbroeck appeared to have taken the win but his fellow Belgian came very fast at the end to take his first individual win since he took a big classics victory in the Paris-Tours almost two years ago.

Race leader Alexandr Kolobnev (Katusha) came under huge attack in the very unorganized finale but his teammate Giamapolo Catuso did a fantastic performance to bring everything back together for the sprint. Hence, Kolobnev will also wear yellow in tomorrow's fourth stage which has a tricky climb just 6,7km from the finish.

Starting at 14.15, you can follow that exciting stage on CyclingQuotes.com/live.

An aggressive start

Many teams were intent on giving Katusha and Kolobnev a run for their money on the hilly 168,5km stage from Beaufays to Bastogne and so a flurry of attacks ensued as soon as the flag had been dropped. The first to go off were Christophe Premont, Reinier Honig (both Crelan), Ludwig De Winter and Boris Vallee (both Color Code) and they were joined by Pim Ligthart (Vacansoleil), Marc Goos (Belkin) and Romain Zingle (Cofidis) before being brought back by the peloton.

Ligthart had no intentions of giving up and so he attacked with Maxime Anciaux (Wallonie) and Loic Pestiaux (Color Code) but that move was also unsuccessful. On the day's first climb, KOM leader Tiago Machado (Radioshack) made a move to pick up maximum points ahead of Kristof Vandewalle (Omega Pharma-Quick Step) and Sebastien Delfosse (Crelan).

Katusha controls the peloton

The latter persisted and got company from Gregory Habeaux (Accent) and Borid Dron (Wallonie) while sprint leader Stijn Steels (Crelan) chased behind. However, Katusha brought it back together and Frantisek Rabon (Omega Pharma-Quick Step) was not allowed any leeway either.

The elastic finally snapped when Kevin Van Melsen, Laurens De Vreese (Topsport) and Premont attacked and were allowed to build up a gap of more than 4 minutes. However, De Vreese was only 35 seconds down on Kolobnev on GC and so Katusha brought the gap down below the 3 minute mark while De Vreese took the 3 bonus seconds in the first intermediate sprint and Premont maximum points on the day's second climb.

Railroad crossing slows down the lead group

The two groups were brought back together as a railroad crossing forced them to come to a halt. When the front group was allowed to rebuild their gap, De Vreese decided to remain in the peloton as he had already picked up the bonus seconds.

Instead, Steels went off in pursuit and he managed to bridge the gap. As none of the three riders were any threat to Kolobnev, Katusha allowed the trio to build up an advantage of almost 7 minutes.

The chase gets organized

That was when BMC, Vacansoleil and Belkin started to chase and for many kilometres, Sebastian Lander (BMC), Kenny Van Hummel (Vacansoleil) and Dennis Van Winden (Belkin) did a huge amount of work to bring down the gap very quickly. Up ahead, Steels was rewarded for his efforts by winning the final two intermediate sprints to extend his lead in the sprints classification.

With 45km to go, the gap had dropped below the one-minute mark as the teams had now start to battle for position on the run-in to the day's penultimate climb. Sensing the capture, Premont attacked his companions who were quickly swallowed up by the peloton in which Europcar, Katusha and Belkin all formed trains on the front.

Bobridge shows his worth

As soon as they started to climb, Jack Bobridge (Belkin) put down the hammer and many riders dropped off due to the hard pace. The Australian wanted to toughen up the race to set up Paul Martens for a sprint win from a reduced group. Premont was caught on the lower slopes.

Machado once again attacked over the top to pick up maximum points for the KOM classification but quickly decided to fall back into the peloton. 50-60 riders remained in the group with sprinters Tom Boonen and Tyler Farrar both still there.

A flurry of attacks

Taylor Phinney (BMC) was the first to attack as Belkin stopped their effort and he was joined by Rabon. That move was too dangerous for Katusha and so Caruso brought it back together. Instead, Juan Manuel Garate (Belkin) launched off the front and he was joined by Jurgen Van De Walle (Lotto) and later also Gregory Habeaux (Accent) and Willem Wauters (Vacansoleil).

Habeaux threatened Kolobnev's lead and so Mikhail Ignatiev started to chase. He did a huge work to bring back the lead quartet as the approached the day's final climb, the steep Mur Saint-Roch.

Mur Saint-Roch makes a difference

Cofidis set the pace on the run-in and as they started to climb, it was their Romain Zingle who was in charge. Calmness was, however, disrupted when Daniel Oss (BMC) and Belgian champion Stijn Devolder (Radioshack) attacked.

The latter was 4th on GC and so Kolobnev went off in pursuit on his own. For a long time he dangled a few metres behind but the Russian never made the junction. Instead, he was overtaken by Marco Marcato (Vacansoleil) who sprinted up to the two leader and on the top a very strong trio was formed.

Caruso chases

Kolobnev had fallen back into the 25-30 rider peloton which had lost both Boonen and Farrar out the back. Caruso showed his worth as the only remaining teammate of Kolobnev and the Italian started to chase.

Taylor Phinney didn't exactly show tactical prowess when he attacked while his teammate Oss was up the road. That forced an acceleration that saw it all come back together.

Another flurry of attacks

Many attacks now ensued as Bjorn Thurau (Europcar), Devenyns, Tom-Jelte Slagter (Belkin), Van Avermaet, Machado and Kolobnev all had a go. The one to be successful was launched with 18km to go when Pieter Serry (Omega Pharma-Quick Step) and Yannick Eijssen (BMC) opened up a gap.

Ben Hermans (Radioschack) and Gert Dockx (Lotto) all tried to go off in pursuit but were brought back. Finally, the chase got a little organized as Caruso moved to the front but he was no match against the front duo who extended their lead to more than 30 seconds.

An organized chase

The chase now got more organized as Nicolas Vogondy (Accent) and Jurgen Van De Walle (Lotto) joined Caruso as they had fast riders Jean-Pierre Drucker and Tim Wellens in the group. FDJ had Anthony Roux for the sprint and put Laurent Pichon on the front while Accent also added Thomas Degand to the chase.

As Belkin asked Goos to also contribute, the gap came down quickly and with 5km to go, it was back together. Vandewalle made an immediate counterattack but got nowhere and instead his teammate Devenyns tried. He was joined by Kolobnev, Anthony Geslin (FDJ), Phinney and Marcato but it came back together.

Devenyns in a solo move

That was when Devenyns went off the front and he built up a big gap. Kolobnev had now lost Caruso and so he attacked himself to bridge the gap. Phinney, Martens and Machado joined him but they got nowhere.

More attacks ensued but finally, Lotto's Gert Dockx organized the chase. Degand also contributed but as he passed the flamme rouge, he blew up.

Slagter leads out Martens

That was when Tom-Jelte Slagter (Belkin) kicked into action with his teammate Martens in his wheel and his acceleration saw Devenyns being brought back with just 400m to go. Romain Feillu (Vacansoleil) opened a long sprint but was overtaken by Van Asbroeck.

The Belgian seemed to be the winner of the stage until Van Avermaet made a late acceleration to edge him out just on the line. Drucker paid back the huge Accent work by finishing 3rd while Kolobnev rolled across the line to safely defend his yellow jersey.

Result:

1. Greg Van Avermaet 4.14.47

2. Tom Van Asbroeck

3. Jean-Pierre Drucker

4. Daniel Oss

5. Paul Martens

6. Maxime Vantomme

7. Romain Feillu

8. Anthony Roux

9. Nico Sijmens

10. Michel Kreder

General classification:

1. Alexandr Kolobnev 13.42.36

2. Anthony Geslin +0.06

3. Stijn Devolder +0.18

4. Greg Van Avermaet +0.22

5. Bjorn Thurau +0.28

6. Jean-Pierre Drucker +0.31

7. Tim Wellens

8. Laurens De Vreese +0.32

9. Marco Marcato +0.33

10. Tiago Machado

Points classification:

1. Greg Van Avermaet 33

2. Alexandr Kolobnev 25

3. Tom Boonen 25

4. Danel Oss 23

5. Romain Feillu 23

Mountains classification:

1. Tiago Machado 80

2. Tim Wellens 58

3. Ben Gastauer 40

4. Laurent Mangel 24

5. Gilles Devillers 18

Sprints classification:

1. Stijn Steels 25

2. Laurent Mangel 10

3. Christophe Premont 9

4. Tom Dernies 7

5. Tim Wellens 6

Teams classification:

1. FDJ 41.09.10

2. Radioshack +0.06

3. Topsport Vlaanderen +0.23

4. Lotto-Belisol

5. Cofidis +0.55