TOUR DE PRANCE

Evening Post, Volume CV, Issue 144, 20 June 1928, Page 13

TOUR DE PRANCE

THE THIRD STAGE " ■ ■ / Australian Press Association.' (Received 20th Juno, 10 a.m.) CHERBOURG, 19th-June, y The Tour do France cycle race field has ' been reduced ito • 138 competitors. It is significant that, as a result of the advantage-they have in pacing, the Frericlimen, le Duco, Frantz, Rebry, Vervaecko, Dewaelo, and' Delannoy; won the third stage prizes.f The time was 4hrs 12min 29sec.' Opperman, the Australian, took; 41ifs 24min'48sec, and Watson, tho Now. Zealander, and Osborne (Australia), 4hrs 29min 44see." The distance was ninety miles. The Australians and the New Zealander mutually helped one another as much as possible in order ,tp face mishaps arid* disadvantage's, for which sporting action . sympathy is shown everywhere. Opperman made a splendid sprint finish to gain- third fastest time for the final lap* Tho present aggregates are: Frantz, Meerte'ns, Rebry, Dewaele,. and Vorvaecke, lOhrs 41min 3.2 sec. Opperman is in twenty-second position, his time being llhrs 14min 57sec. - ■ The Australians are persistently losing time through unfamiliarity with road signs, controls, and strange tiros.'