Mathieu van der Poel launches Jasper Philipsen to victory on the 3rd stage of the Tour de France

The first duel between the fast men of the Tour de France 2023 went to Alpecin-Deceuninck rider Jasper Philipsen who, once again, enjoyed the impeccable launch made by Mathieu van der Poel that left him the victory on a platter. Wout van Aert came close to challenging him for the win but was closed down in the final meters.

Jasper Philipsen wins in the first of the few opportunities for sprinters in this Tour

Third stage of the Tour de France 2023, but the first that is developed as supposedly usually run the stages of this race throughout the always tense first week, a day ideal for a sprint finish with passes through towns, traffic circles, speed, etc. Last day in Euskadi lands in a 193-kilometer stage that started in Amorebieta to lead the peloton to French lands, specifically to a town with so much cycling flavor as Bayonne.

With this style of stage, we witnessed the usual script of a spoiled breakaway and a massive finish. All this despite the broken geography of the Basque Country, with an explosive start in which the climb to Trabakua was practically a set-piece. However, the first to attack, for the third consecutive day, could not be other than Neilson Powless, who stood out to continue accumulating points in his fight for the red dotted jersey of the mountain.

He was joined by Arkéa-Samsic's Frenchman Laurent Pichon and, with the approval of the peloton, both made their way. Little dispute for some always valued breakaways in the Tour de France which, undoubtedly, gives good proof of the hardness accumulated in the first two days of the race.

And so the kilometers went by with the peloton letting things go, accumulating some delay over the planned schedule, but without losing face to the race. Meanwhile, the two in the lead continued with a perfect understanding, the points in the passes for the American and the Frenchman obtained full cooperation for, after the last of the punctuated sections, passing through San Sebastian, Powless voluntarily dropped off so that Pichon could get the prize for the most combative cyclist of the day.

He would hold on to his adventure until 37 kilometers to go, in the middle of the Basque-French country and the broken terrain that marks it, which, however, was not an impediment for the peloton to gradually accelerate the pace in search of the finish in Bayonne.

A peloton launched until the last 400 meters where Mathieu van der Poel took the lead as if it were the derny in a track keirin race leading his teammate Jasper Philipsen on his wheel. Before that, had disappeared during the approach of the first places Mark Cavendish, who once again proved the harsh reality of not having a specialized team in these matters.

The launch of Van der Poel was simply huge, when he finally pulled away and was facing the air Philipsen already had 75% of the stage victory achieved. However, we still lived a last point of emotion with a Wout van Aert who came out of his slipstream with tremendous strength and began to rebound. However, the very slight curve that traced the road left him closed against the fences in the last meters and he had to lift his foot.

Apparently there was nothing punishable in the trajectory of Philipsen who was following his line, but the action was reviewed by the judges, so Philipsen was not immediately awarded the victory. Something that football fans are already more than used to since the implementation of VAR but which still surprises cycling fans. Finally, after much deliberation, the victory went to Jasper Philipsen, followed by Phil Bauhauss and Caleb Ewan in third place.

Stage 3 Classification

1. Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Deceuninck) 4h43’15’’
2. Phil Bauhaus (Bahrain Victorius) +00’’
3. Caleb Ewan (Lotto-Dstny) +00’’
4. Fabio Jakobsen (Soudal-Quick Step) +00’’
5. Wout van Aert (Jumbo-Visma) +00’’
6. Fabio Jakobsen (Soudal-QuickStep) +00’’
7. Wout van Aert (Jumbo-Visma) +00’’
8. Mark Cavendish (Astana) +00’’
9. Jordi Meuss (Bora-Hansgrohe) +00’’
10. Dylan Groenewegen (Jayco-AlUla) +00’’

Overal Classification

1. Adam Yates (UAE Team Emirates) 13h52’33’’
2. Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates) +06’’
3. Simon Yates (Jayco AlUla) +06’’
4. Victor Lafay (Cofidis) +12’’
5. Wout van Aert (Jumbo-Visma) +16’’
6. Jonas Vingegaard (Jumbo-Visma) +17’’
7. Michael Woods (Israel-PremierTech) +22’’
8. Jai Hindley (Bora-Hansgrohe) +22’’
9. Carlos Rodríguez (INEOS Grenadiers) +22’’
10. Mattias Skjelmose (Lidl-Trek) +22’’