Tim Merlier wins Tour de France stage 3 on day marred by crashes

Tim Merlier (Soudal-QuickStep) won stage 3 of the Tour de France after pipping Jonathan Milan (Lidl-Trek) by a tyre’s width in a bunch sprint in Dunkerque.

Phil Bauhaus (Bahrain Victorious) took third ahead of Søren Waerenskjold (Uno-X Mobility).

Mathieu van der Poel finished in the front group to retain the yellow jersey, but it was a trying day for his Alpecin-Deceuninck squad after Jasper Philipsen crashed out of the race in the intermediate sprint with 60km remaining.

Another crash in the final 3km saw Remco Evenepoel (Soudal-QuickStep) among the fallers, though the Belgian remounted and completed the stage, while there was another spill in the finishing straight as the sprint began.

Prior to Philipsen’s abandon, it had been a strikingly calm day on the Tour after an intense opening weekend. The threat of echelons never materialised, and no break worthy of the name formed during the stage, aside from a brief raid from Tim Wellens (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) to earn the king of the mountains jersey.

That effort was enough to spare his leader, Tadej Pogacar, the exertion of a podium visit on Monday afternoon. In the overall standings, Pogacar remains second overall, four seconds behind Vand der Poel, with Jonas Vingegaard (Visma | Lease a Bike) third at six seconds. 

“It was a really hard battle, it was difficult to be in position, and I was third coming into the last corner,” Merlier explained.

“In the last 2km I fought back from behind to come back in position. I was all the time in the wind, only with 500m to go I found a bit of slipstream.”

Merlier was able to tuck himself onto Milan’s wheel as the sprint began and he able to outstrip the Italian in the drag race to the line, pipping him to the win.

“At first, I was sure I had won, but after I raised my hand, I was not sure anymore,” Merlier confessed, but the jury quickly confirmed his second Tour victory after winning the corresponding stage in 2021.

Milan’s Lidl-Trek squad had led the race into the final kilometre, but the Italian had to latch onto the Picnic-PostNL lead-out in the closing metres, and he looked a touch under-geared against Merlier in the closing metres.

“It’s always difficult to beat Milan, but I’m happy I can take today, my second win in the Tour de France,” said Merlier.

And on the third day, they relented. After an intense opening weekend in the Nord, stage 3 of the Tour de France set off at a rather more sedate pace from Valenciennes. The multiple changes of direction on the route had led many to anticipate crosswinds and echelons on the road to Dunkerque, but the feared wind didn’t quite materialise.

Instead, the early hours of the stage were run off in as relaxed as atmosphere as the modern Tour allows. Matej Mohoric (Bahrain Victorious) was the only rider to attack in the opening kilometres, but nobody wanted to keep him company. The Slovenian, wisely, tapped out and returned to the safety of the bunch.

From there, the race ambled along through evocative names like Orchies and Mons-en-Pévèle, but there was no pavé on the menu here. The only hint of Spring racing here was the sight of Van der Poel’s Alpecin-Deceuninck squad policing the front of the race.

No day at the Tour is ever entirely tranquil, however, and drama sadly arrived at the intermediate sprint in Isbergues, when green jersey Philipsen was a heavy faller in the scramble for points. The Belgian was accidentally brought down by Bryan Coquard (Cofidis), who shifted sideways after being bumped by Laurenz Rex (Intermarché-Wanty).

There was no malice in Coquard’s manoeuvre, but that mattered little to Philipsen, whose skinsuit was torn to shreds by the impact. No Alpecin-Deceuninck teammates waited as he sat on the roadside receiving care from the race doctor, and it was immediately clear that his Tour was over. Official confirmation of his abandon arrived soon afterwards.

For the record, Milan won the intermediate sprint, but the stage continued in muted tones thereafter.
Indeed, such was the lack of intensity that Tim Wellens (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) was essentially given permission by the sprinters’ teams to clip off the front and claim the king of the mountains point on offer atop the Côte de Cassel with 30km to go.

UAE’s clear intention was to take Tadej Pogacar out of the polka dot jersey and spare him the time wasted on podium duties. Even though Wellens built a lead of almost two minutes by the top of the Cassel, he stuck to the terms of the agreement and knocked off the pace over the top.

With a shade over 4km to go, a touch of wheels saw the Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe duo of Jordi Meeus and Laurence Pithie come down, and Evenepoel was among those to come down, though he appeared to be relatively unscathed. Another crash would mar the finishing sprint, with Davide Ballerini (XDS-Astana) among those to come down heavily.

The organisation pointedly refused to award the combativity prize at day’s end, but no one could say the Tour peloton hadn’t endured an ordeal all the same.