CYCLING TOUR DE FRANCE : Canada’s Bauer Keeps the Lead as Tour Forced to Take Detour

Canadian Steve Bauer held onto the leader’s yellow jersey Monday in a stage of the Tour de France troubled by demonstrations and rain.

Bauer finished in the pack for the third stage, a 144.5-mile stretch from Poitiers to Nantes, near the west coast of France.

Two-time champion Greg LeMond and the other major contenders stayed more than 10 minutes behind as the overall standings stayed basically the same in a fairly flat stage.

Moreno Argentin of Italy won the stage with a modest breakaway near the end of the leg that was marked by showers throughout the day. Argentin, the 1986 world champion, was 2 minutes 28 seconds ahead of the rest of the pack, headed by France’s Christophe Lavainne. Argentin’s total time was 5 hours 46 minutes 13 seconds.

The route was changed about 54 miles into the leg when sheep farmers, upset by falling meat prices, blocked the route with tree trunks, manure and tractors. Debris was placed by the protesters over a 15-mile section of the course.

Organizers of the world’s premier cycling race first arranged for the competitors to make a detour onto another route. But later, they decided to stop all the racers and have them start again en masse at Bressuire, adding about three miles to the course.

Bauer kept the leader’s yellow jersey by eight seconds over Frans Maassen of the Netherlands.

Former winners Pedro Delgado and Laurent Fignon were involved in mass pileups at the half-stage mark, but escaped injury.

More rain is expected today on the 127-mile fourth stage from Nantes to Mont Saint-Michel.