It didn't take long for Charleston native Will Frischkorn to make his mark in the 95th Tour de France.

Frischkorn, a rider for the three-year-old Garmin Chipotle team, was one of four riders to initiate a breakaway from the main pack Tuesday and finished second in the third stage, just three days into his first Tour.

Frischkorn, who is only one of four Americans in the Tour, is believed to be the first West Virginian to compete in cycling's oldest test of endurance and strength.

"We thought there was a chance a breakaway would go early and I took a chance,'' said Frischkorn via cellphone from France on Monday night. "The final run to the finish was a little bit of cat and mouse. From there it was hectic all the way to the line.''

Frischkorn anticipated the breakaway early on in the 129-mile route from Saint-Malo to Nantes in France.

"I'm pretty heads-up on sneaking into these little breakaways and when they do work, it's definitely an exciting thing,'' he said. "I made a few mistakes and I'll definitely be replaying those in my mind.''

Frischkorn said he had planned to attack first in the last couple of miles of the third stage, but Samuel Dumoulin of France, the eventual winner, beat him to it. Frischkorn said when France's Romain Feillu passed them both, he was too eager and gave chase instead of forcing Dumoulin's hand to counterattack.

Then Frischkorn said he errantly paused for a second with about 350 yards to go. He said he had the legs to chase down Dumoulin, but ran out of time. The second-place finish, however, vaulted Frischkorn to third place in the overall standings, 1 minute, 42 seconds behind overall leader Feillu. 

It didn't take long for Charleston native Will Frischkorn to make his mark in the 95th Tour de France.

Frischkorn, a rider for the three-year-old Garmin Chipotle team, was one of four riders to initiate a breakaway from the main pack Tuesday and finished second in the third stage, just three days into his first Tour.

Frischkorn, who is only one of four Americans in the Tour, is believed to be the first West Virginian to compete in cycling's oldest test of endurance and strength.

"We thought there was a chance a breakaway would go early and I took a chance,'' said Frischkorn via cellphone from France on Monday night. "The final run to the finish was a little bit of cat and mouse. From there it was hectic all the way to the line.''

Frischkorn anticipated the breakaway early on in the 129-mile route from Saint-Malo to Nantes in France.

"I'm pretty heads-up on sneaking into these little breakaways and when they do work, it's definitely an exciting thing,'' he said. "I made a few mistakes and I'll definitely be replaying those in my mind.''

Frischkorn said he had planned to attack first in the last couple of miles of the third stage, but Samuel Dumoulin of France, the eventual winner, beat him to it. Frischkorn said when France's Romain Feillu passed them both, he was too eager and gave chase instead of forcing Dumoulin's hand to counterattack.

Then Frischkorn said he errantly paused for a second with about 350 yards to go. He said he had the legs to chase down Dumoulin, but ran out of time. The second-place finish, however, vaulted Frischkorn to third place in the overall standings, 1 minute, 42 seconds behind overall leader Feillu. 

"It's what we've been hoping for on the team, to keep the name out there the first week,'' Frischkorn said. "It would have definitely been exciting to step one step higher on that podium, but there's time down the road for that hopefully.''

Frischkorn did exactly what he is supposed to do Monday in aiding the team's top riders - David Millar of England and American Christian Vandevelde. As a domestique, Frischkorn's job is to either initiate or cover moves from other riders.

"There's four of us looking out for early breakaways,'' Frischkorn said. "Anything more than three or four riders becomes a dangerous situation.

"It's always better to be proactive. Getting these breakaways means our guys aren't responsible back in the peleton to chase. This is helping the team. I was surprised this [breakaway] stuck. They're usually futile and get reeled in before the finish.''

Today's fourth stage is an 18-mile individual time trial in Cholet, France, the first real test for the Tour contenders. Frischkorn said he will use today to recover both emotionally and physically from Monday's unexpected surprise.

"The whole team is looking for strong time trials from the team leaders,'' said Frischkorn. "[Just] keep it going.''

Reach Tommy R. Atkinson at 348-4811 or tatkin...@wvgazette.com.