Farrar breaks Tour de France duck as Garmin win again

American Tyler Farrar of Garmin-Cervelo upstaged the hopes of British sprint rival Mark Cavendish on his way to a maiden Tour de France victory on the third stage Monday. World champion Thor Hushovd of Norway kept possession of the race leader's yellow jersey as Garmin celebrated their second win on the trot, having won the 23km team time trial at Les Essarts on Sunday. Cavendish, who has won a record 15 stages in the past three editions of the race, had a perfect lead-in to the finale by his dominant HTC-Highroad team. However the Isle of Man rider found the going tough after a final bend forced many riders to slow down and lose momentum. Despite a late burst, he could only finish fifth. Team Sky rider Geraint Thomas rounded the bend on his own, but with no teammates to follow up he was soon swamped by Garmin as Hushovd and New Zealander Julian Dean dragged Farrar towards the finish. Frenchman Romain Feillu of Vacansoleil and Movistar Rojas launched late charges, but Farrar came over the finish half a bike length clear. "It's fantastic, I've been working to get this for a long time," said Farrar. "It's the first mass sprint of the Tour, and it's always a bit chaotic. But the team almost made it easy for me. "We showed yesterday how strong our team is, winning the team time trial. It was a relief, and took the pressure off the shoulders. "It just keeps on getting better now." Although his win came on America's Independence Day, Farrar -- who made a 'W' gesture shortly after crossing the line -- immediately dedicated the victory to stricken friend Wouter Weylandt of Belgium. Leopard-Trek team rider Weylandt was one of Farrar's best friends, but crashed to his death in the Giro d'Italia in early May. "I want to dedicate this victory to Wouter," added Farrar, who is based in Belgium. "It's been a horrible past few months. Everything that happened in the Giro, I've had a lot of ups and downs. "In the end I wanted to come back and do something to pay tribute. This is the biggest race in the world, and I didn't know it would be possible, but I've trained really hard for this. "At the moment I can't quite believe I've won it."