Roadside Stage 3: City of diamonds, Antwerp hosts the start of stage three. Our hotel was less than a mile from the line, more by accident than design, so that made checking out the riders’ departure a simple choice before the dash to the Mur de Huy. Calm and smiling, or at the very least composed, those same riders came rolling home battered, burnt and bruised, in ones and twos a few hours later after another crazy stage.ANTWERPIt’s beautiful in Antwerp this morning, with much of Europe in the grip of a heatwave; the last time I was here in April 2013 for the Scheldeprijs, Europe was gripped by a freeze with the riders dressed up like winter ninjas, virtually everything covered but the eyes. Our room last night looked out over Marnixplaats; a woman calmly drove her Porsche up to the roundabout and hopped out for a coffee, as if it was the most normal thing in the world.For the riders, the most normal thing in the world is probably to be nervous, especially Nibali and Quintana, who can’t really afford any more problems after yesterday. The kids gathered around the Etixx-QuickStep bus, as well as the LottoNL-Jumbo gang that stood beside them chewing their nails, looked on the verge of passing out as they waited for Cavendish to emerge.The Manx Missile eventually signed on for he day with his usual flourish, but even he can’t compete with Fabian Cancellara collecting his diamond-encrusted Antwerp ‘A'; Cav just fiddled about...
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