Tour de France: Jasper Philipsen wins the sprint in Bayonne, the summary of the third stage

2023-07-03 18:21:40

As expected, the third stage of the Tour de France between Amorebieta and Bayonne on Monday was contested in a sprint on Monday. And for the first arrival of a massive peloton in this Grande Boucle, it was the Belgian Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Fenix) who won in the Basque city ahead of Phil Bauhaus (Bahrain-Victorious) and Caleb Ewan (Lotto- Dstny). Bothered by the winner of the day, Wout van Aert (Jumbo-Visma) could not fight for victory until the end after his second place the day before behind the Frenchman Victor Lafay and finished fourth. After viewing the commissionaires, the victory of the Belgian was confirmed.

Before this explanation in the streets of the Pyrénées-Atlantiques sub-prefecture, the peloton covered the kilometers which separated it from Spain on its first laps in France at a very leisurely pace. After two lively stages to launch the Grande Boucle, the riders wanted to take a breather and it showed. The teams let slip the two breakaways of the day, contenting themselves with maintaining a rhythm so as not to let Neilson Powless and Laurent Pichon get too far in the lead.

The American from the EF Education-EasyPost team had taken the tangent only to consolidate his polka dot jersey by taking the lead in the four difficulties listed on Monday in the mountain classification. The Arkéa-Samsic adventurer, back in the event after a five-year absence, wanted to show off the jersey. Encouraged by his wife in the headset, Pichon crossed the border alone, before being swallowed up by the peloton after more than 150 kilometers in the lead and 37 km from the finish.

Another opportunity for sprinters on Tuesday

The sprinter teams then continued to maintain the pace, keeping their speed finish specialist warm. And in this game, it was the Alpecin-Fenix ​​formation of Mathieu van der Poel who proved to be the strongest.

The fourth stage on Tuesday, between Dax (Landes) and Nogaro (Gers), appears on paper once again promised to the sprinters. Only one ascent, classified in the fourth category, is listed along the 181.8 kilometers of the route of the day.