Key events
78km to go: Five riders have been dropped from the main bunch. The main peloton consists of 134 riders and there are a few stragglers in between.
80km to go: The average speed has crept up to 37.8km/h for the day.
81km to go: According the official site Martin is 1min 14sec up, while the back markers are over 3min down. We are going to see some big time gaps today.
82km to go: Martin of Movistar now has 1min 20sec on the peloton. That’s an awesome effort to build a gap of that size. Unless of course the peloton has eased off, which seems unlikely but not impossible. If I had live pictures (which appear to be imminent) it would be easier …
85km to go: Sara Martin (Movistar) has attacked off the front of the bunch on her own. The kilometres are ticking by incredibly quickly. The average speed is up to 37.5km/h.
Meanwhile, here is the top five on GC after stage three:
1) Vollering 4hr 27min 54sec
2) Wiebes +03sec
3) Dygert +05sec
4) Adegeest +05sec
5) Kool +05sec
The top 10 is separated by just 10sec.
95km to go: It looks like the race is all back together so the pace is going to stay extremely hot.
97km to go: Persico has mopped up no fewer than seven QOM points today.
99km to go: You guessed it, Persico makes it four out of four on the second ascent of the Bemelerberg. There is a breakaway ahead of the main bunch but no data on the official site as to who is in it, apart from the details of the riders who have won climbing points. Things will be much clearer shortly when we have live TV pictures.
104km to go: The race will head over the Bemelerberg again, after which there is a long section with no climbing points available. It’s over 50km of racing, across the border into Belgium, before the next categorised climb.
105km to go: Persico mops up another two points on the Geulhemmerberg. Justine Ghekiere (AG Insurance–Soudal–Quick-Step) is second.
107km to go: Persico has her climbing legs on today, and wins three points atop the Cauberg, to add to the two she won on the Bemelerberg:
1. Silvia Persico (UAE Team ADQ), 3 pts
2. Yara Kastelijn (Fenix-Deceuninck), 2 pts
3. Sofia Bertizzolo (UAE Team ADQ), 1 pt
110km to go: The peloton has now hit the Cauberg, and already some riders are losing touch at the back. The average speed so far is 35km/h, which is extremely quick, factoring in the climbing they’ve already done.
116km to go: Silvia Persico (UAE Team ADQ) takes two points on the Bemelerberg, the day’s first climb. Quinty Ton (Liv-AlUla-Jayco) is second to win the other QOM point on offer.
“Here in France (where I live) they are giving the Tour de France Femmes full coverage,” emails Jeremy Boyce. “Every minute of every stage televised, helicopters, cameras on bikes, star commentators (Laurent Jalabert and Tommy Voeckler brilliant as usual), the women are starting to get the support and recognition they deserve.”
Neither Discovery nor Eurosport have any live pictures until 12.30pm UK. A shame, because the start of today’s stage is bound to be spicy.
The riders – 144 of them after this morning’s three abandonments – have rolled out for the neutralised start.
Christina Schweinberger (Fenix-Deceuninck), Elise Chabbey (Canyon–SRAM) and Clara Emond (EF–Oatly–Cannondale) have all abandoned the race before stage four.
The time schedule on the official site states that the stage begins at 11.25 UK / 12.25 BST.
The TV schedule now states live coverage begins at 12.30 UK, so I’ll be relying on the official site updates until then.
Are you looking forward to this one?
Why not email me?
Here’s the lineup for today’s eight climbs. It promises to be a very hard day in the saddle:
Bemelerberg (category four)
Cauberg (category three)
Geulhemmerberg (category four)
Bemeleberg (category four)
Mont-Theux (category three)
Côte de la Redoute (category two)
Côte de Forges (category three)
Côte de la Roche-aux-Faucons (category two)
“I hope we can keep this up,” Lorena Wiebes told Eurosport yesterday, after her SD Worx–Protime teammate Demi Vollering won the individual time trial. On which note, today looks like it could be a tough one to control, as it combines some of the terrain from the Amstel Gold Race and Liège–Bastogne–Liège.
Preamble
Today’s stage begins in the Netherlands and finishes in Belgium, taking in some famous one-day Classics territory on the way. The area around Limburg and Valkenburg includes those rare things – significant hills within the Dutch border – before the race rolls south and into the northern reaches of Belgium.
There are eight categorised climbs on a very up-and-down route, 122km in length, with one intermediate sprint coming at Pepinster after 67.5km of racing. Three cat-fours, three cat-threes and two cat-twos are included in the day’s climbs and there will be plenty of riders hoping to get in a breakaway.
More on that to follow shortly, but for now, here is Jeremy Whittle’s report of Tuesday’s stages two and three, a road race and time trial combo in which the reigning champion, Demi Vollering, took a step towards back-to-back Tour de France Femmes titles:
Stage start time: 11.25am BST