The Belgian from Alpecin-Deceuninck conquers the third stage from Amorebieta to Bayonne. The Briton remains at the helm of the race with a 6” lead over Pogacar and his brother Simon
Jasper Philipsen won stage three of the Tour de France, 193km from Amorebieta to Bayonne, the stage which marked the race’s entry into France after the big start in Spain’s Basque country. A stage that ended a little later than the slowest expected hourly average, around 6 pm. And it was a great sprint that of the 25-year-old Belgian from Alpecin-Deceuninck, launched splendidly by his teammate Mathieu Van der Poel while he defeated of the day is still Van Aert, who was head to head with Philipsen at the barriers on the right side of the road and then slowed down, perhaps also for fear of falling. In the sprint, the German Phil Bauhaus of Bahrain-Victorious was second, the Australian Caleb Ewan of Lotto-Dstny third. Then the others placed in the top 10: Jakobsen, Van Aert, Cavendish, Meeus, Groenewegen, Pedersen, Coquard. Eleventh Girmay. First Italian Luca Mozzato, 12th. Adam Yates is still in the yellow jersey, the 30-year-old British rider from the UAE-Emirates who won the first stage in Bilbao on Saturday, with a 6” lead over Tadej Pogacar and his brother Simon Yates. First Italian Giulio Ciccone, 20th at 43”. For Philipsen this is the 30th success in his career; in the Tour he had already won 2 stages last year, including the sprint on the Elysian Fields. In Italy he had imposed himself on two occasions, two stages at the Tirreno-Adriatico 2023. Raised in Axel Merckx’s youth team, he had been teammate for two seasons of Pogacar (2019-2020) before moving to Van der Poel’s team .
THE PROGRAM
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We continue on Tuesday with the fourth stage: 181 km from Dax to Nogaro. Barring surprises, there will be another opportunity for the sprinters and we will already be on the eve of the Pyrenees. The Tour de France will conclude on Sunday 23 July in Paris.