July 6, 2004 – A day for the hard men as the Tour goes through a number of hills and sections normally reserved for the classics in Belgium and Northern France. A day as well that saw USPS’ Armstrong and T-Mobile’s Jan Ullrich ride a bit hypocritically: when their chief rival Iban Mayo (Euskatel) crashed on the cobbles midway into the race, both squads rode hard to put time into the Basque rider. Mayo lost almost three minutes…

Stage 3:

1. Jean-Patrick Nazon (Fra) AG2r-Prevoyance
2. Erik Zabel (Ger) T-Mobile
3. Robbie McEwen (Aus) Lotto-Domo

Overall:

1. Robbie McEwen (Aus) Lotto-Domo 13.42.34
2. Fabian Cancellara (Swi) Fassa Bortolo 0.01
3. Jens Voigt (Ger) Team CSC 0.09
4. Jean-Patrick Nazon (Fra) AG2R Prévoyance 0.12
5. Lance Armstrong (USA) US Postal p/b Berry Floor 0.16
6. Danilo Hondo (Ger) Gerolsteiner 0.22
7. Erik Zabel (Ger) T-Mobile Team 0.23
8. José Enrique Gutierrez (Spa) Phonak Hearing Systems
9. Levi Leipheimer (USA) Rabobank 0.24
10. Oscar Pereiro (Spa) Phonak Hearing Systems 0.25