Tim Merlier wins a crash-filled 3rd stage of the Tour de France that saw Jasper Philipsen forced to retire

Transition stage in the Tour de France with a finish that was set up for the sprinters. As usual in these early stages of the Grande Boucle, the first week becomes a survival battle that this time claimed the most in-form sprinter of the moment, Jasper Philipsen.

A crash in the intermediate sprint of the 3rd stage of the Tour sends Jasper Philipsen home

Just when things seemed to be going perfectly for Alpecin-Deceuninck in the Tour de France, the race showed its cruel side. A silly fall in the fight for sprint points claimed Jasper Philipsen's collarbone as a victim, leaving the Belgian team without their main asset for adding more victories.

The third stage, 178.3 kilometers between Valenciennes and Dunkirk, pure Paris-Roubaix terrain although, this time, without the cobblestones, with a completely flat profile and wind forecasts not suitable for surprises, announcing a mass arrival even before the fall.

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In fact, there wasn't even a breakaway of the day, just a brief attempt at the start by Matej Mohoric and Jonas Rickaert who, facing a completely flat stage with mostly headwind, chose to be caught, with the peloton taking it easy in the first half of the race.

Things livened up as they approached the intermediate sprint, highly contested by the contenders for the green jersey, although the news would be Jasper Philipsen's unfortunate fall, knocked out of the game unexpectedly as Bryan Coquard sent him to the ground after colliding with Laurence Rex in an attempt to pass where there was no space. An action that Philipsen's teammates criticized the Frenchman for.

The curious moment of the day was the mini-breakaway of Tim Wellens who moved ahead of the peloton after asking for permission to do so and thus crowned the Mont Cassel climb, the only difficulty of the day, allowing him to tie in points in the mountain classification with Tadej Pogacar, and by the tiebreaker criteria, he will wear the red polka dot jersey tomorrow.

The last kilometers, after the little demand of the stage, being so early in the Tour de France and with many people still strong, became tremendously dangerous, with a couple of nasty falls that disrupted the sprinters' teams, affecting one of them to Remco Evenepoel. Still, Jonathan Milan, the top favorite to win the stage after Philipsen's withdrawal, managed to start well placed but too far back after losing his lead-out man in this final part.

He perfectly caught the wheel of a force of nature like Tim Merlier who, in an agonizing comeback, managed to beat the Italian by just a few centimeters, securing one of the coveted stages of this Tour de France.

Moderate mountain terrain for tomorrow's stage, with the race heading towards Normandy to conclude in the city of Rouen. A stage with about 40 final kilometers where no less than 5 categorized climbs will be ascended, in addition to the multitude of short climbs that could be considered as such, making it a very challenging day for the peloton and attractive for the spectator.

Stage 3 Classification

1. Tim Merlier (Soudal-QuickStep) 4h16'55''
2. Jonathan Milan (Lidl-Trek) +00''
3. Phil Bauhaus (Bahrain-Victorious) +00''
4. Soren Warenskjold (Uno-X Mobility) +00''
5. Pavel Bittner (Picnic-PostNL) +00''
6. Biniam Girmay (Intermarché-Wanty) +00''
7. Kaden Groves (Alpecin-Deceuninck) +00''
8. Danny Van Poppel (Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe) +00''
9. Pascal Ackermann (Israel-PremierTech) +00''
10. Amaury Capiot (Arkéa-B&B Hotels) +00''

General Classification

1. Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck) 12h55'37''
2. Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) +04''
3. Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike) +06''
4. Kévin Vauquelin (Arkéa-B&B Hotels) +10''
5. Matteo Jorgenson (Visma-Lease a Bike) +10''
6. Enric Mas (Movistar) +10''
7. Joseph Blackmore (Israel-PremierTech) +41''
8. Tobias Halland Johannessen (Uno-X Mobility) +41''
9. Ben O'Connor (Jayco-AlUla) +41''
10. Emanuel Buchmann (Cofidis) +49''