Dowsett takes Tour de l'Avenir lead

Britain's Alex Dowsett has taken the overall lead in the Tour de l'Avenir in France after former leader Taylor Phinney suffered a heavy fall.

Dowsett (Great Britain) was second overall behind leader Phinney (USA) going into the third day of the under-23s event. Phinney crashed in the final 20km of the stage as a result of the wet, slippery conditions allowing former Trek-Livestrong team-mate Dowsett to take the helm in the overall classification.

Escapee Anthony Delaplace (France) won the 150.5km stage from Saint-Amand-Montrond to Cusset, with Bert Jan Lindeman (Netherlands) in second and Romain Hardy (France) in third.

Prologue winner Phinney managed to finish the stage some 19 minutes behind winner Delaplace and was promptly taken to hospital for examination. 

The eight-day Tour de l'Avenir is open to under-23 riders and runs from Sunday, September 5, to Sunday, September 12. Past winners include Greg Lemond (1982), Olaf Ludwig (1983), Charly Mottet (1984), Denis Menchov (2001), Sylvain Calzati (2004) and Lars Bak (2005). 

Tour de l'Avenir 2010: Related links

Stage one: Phinney retains lead

Prologue: Phinney pips Dowsett in Tour de l'Avenir prologue

British fields strong Tour de l'Avenir squad