Paolo Tiralongo

Cyril Lemoine

The peloton took its time on Stage 3 of the 2016 Tour de France, allowing a chance for injured riders to nurse wounds and come home safely. All 198 riders finished the day, although Michael Morkov, who took perhaps the worst of the crashes on Stage 1 dropped into the Lanterne Rouge.

Les Cuspides shifted to two new riders, although one is no stranger to the Point d’Appui. The Italian rider Paolo Tiralongo of Astana Pro Team moved into the 99th spot. Tiralongo won the Point d’Appui in the Tour de France a decade ago. Since then, he joined the Astana team in 2010 and has a string of first-place finishes on stages, three of them in various editions of the Giro d’Italia.

Joining Tiralongo on the cusp of the fulcrum is French rider Cyril Lemoine of Cofidis.

The 223-kilometer course between Granville and Angers saw only one bit of excitement during the day, when Thomas Voekler made the cross from the peloton to the lone rider on the break, Armindo Fonseca of Fortuneo-Vital Concept. That’s how placid the pace was on Stage 3.

The finish of the stage, however, offered a little anxiety while Mark Cavendish and Andre Greipel waited to see who won the photo finish. It was Cavendish by a wheel rim.

The two riders on the cusp after Stage 2 — Gorka Izagirre and Vasil Kiryienka — remained near the middle. Izagirre climbed slightly in the standings while Kiryienka fell back 11 spots, leaving les Cuspides open for Tiralongo and Lemoine.