By Phil Gaimon

It was actually another 100 miles and change, with two ugly climbs and lots of wind and rain, but I think stage three will prove to be the closest thing to a rest day that we get this week. Over the first climb, I was hoping to stay at the front and make it into the break, which was likely to go on this climb. A small group went right at the base, and I attacked to bridge up to it, but barely got a gap on the field. Soon enough, the Astana train came past me.

I finished that climb in the front group of 30 or 40 riders, led by Astana. Rain continued to pour on the descent, washing dirt from the cliffs onto the road. The climbers took it carefully, allowing the rest of the field to catch back on. The second climb came up shortly, but the pace was much more civil, and it stayed together for the most part.

The rest of the day, I sat in the field and chowed down on Jelly Beans, actually enjoying the fact that I don’t ride for Astana. They had to drag us around in the headwinds and crosswinds for about three hours. It must have been brutal, but that’s why they get paid the big bucks. For the rest of us, all we had to do was sit and enjoy the sleigh ride.

The pace got a little intense again at the end, when I suppose QuickStep and Columbia finally decided that they wanted to bring the break back. The last 30 minutes were spent hanging onto their tempo, and riding on the very edge of the road in the crosswinds, trying to get just a little bit of a draft. My team tried to set up Brad Huff, our sprinter, at the end, but we couldn’t compete with the big lead-outs, and I’m not sure where he ended up.

The race finished right by the hotel, so we went right up to the rooms to clean up. I wore knee warmers today, and the road spray and grime made a sharp line of filth on my shins. As I scrubbed them off, Brad came into the bathroom and knocked on the shower curtain, with an urgent question:

Huff: Who’s in there?
Me: Uh, it’s Phil.
Huff: Phil! I need an iPhone. Or a camera! Do you have a camera?
Me: Why would I have a camera in the shower?

I found out that he wanted to take a picture of his face, which was blackened like my shins (I wore a cap and Rudy Project Sportmasks to keep my face and eyes somewhat protected). We were quite filthy. Since this race has started, every time I rub my eyes, more dirt has worked its way to the edge. Aside from that, eating enough is the biggest problem. I don’t have meals anymore, so much as I just have a constant stream of food whenever I’m off or on the bike. I still wake up hungry in the middle of the night and have to dig through my bag for an energy bar.

Stage four is another hilly one, but I’m starting to feel like I have a shot at finishing this thing.