The 3rd stage of the Tour de France 2013 took place on July 1st, 2013. It ran entirely on Corsica and led from Ajaccio over 145.5 km to Calvi . In the course of the stage there was a mountain classification in the second category, two in the third, one in the fourth category and a sprint classification. The third stage counted as a low mountain range. All 198 drivers started.
The stage started at 12.55 p.m. A short time later, Lieuwe Westra drove out of the field and a breakaway group formed around him, which also included Sébastien Minard , Alexis Vuillermoz , Simon Clarke and Cyril Gautier . After two kilometers they already had a gap of 1:20 minutes on the peloton. Before the first mountain classification on the Col de San Bastiano, the five leaders had a lead of around four minutes. Simon Clarke won the ranking, who won the only point to be awarded. The main field was about 4:30 minutes behind before the intermediate sprint. Minard took the points ahead of Westra and Gautier. The winner of the peloton sprint was Marcel Kittel .
The lead of the leading group slowly began to melt, they were now on the ascent to Col de San Martino, whose mountain classification was again won by Clarke, and Vuillermoz came second. In the field, the pace has now been increased significantly, so that the favorites were only 35 seconds behind the leaders at the beginning of the third climb. The following mountain classification on the Côte de Porto was again secured by Clarke, who drew level with the wearer of the dotted jersey , Pierre Rolland . The lead of the outliers stabilized again, however, with the five drivers 60 kilometers from the finish line again 1:30 minutes ahead of the main field.
The two leading group, Gautier and Vuillermoz, were only one second behind overall leader Jan Bakelants , so his team, RadioShack Leopard , kept up the pace in the field to secure the yellow jersey. The increase in pace had an effect - the leading group visibly lost their lead on yellow. 21 kilometers from the finish, Clarke and Minard attacked out of the breakaway group and pulled out a one-minute lead on the field again. On the last mountain, the Col de Marsolino, Clarke was alone in the lead, but was overtaken by Pierre Rolland, who then also secured the five points for the mountain classification on the summit and continued alone in front. The other outliers fell back into the main field.
About eight kilometers from the finish, a three-man chase group, including Sylvain Chavanel , caught up with Rolland. Their breakaway attempt was unsuccessful, however, and they were put by the peloton three kilometers from the finish line. Simon Gerrans won the sprint of the main field ahead of Peter Sagan , who took over the green jersey from Marcel Kittel. In the other ratings, the jerseys remained unchanged.
