Dutchman Dylan Groenewegen secured victory on the third stage of the Tour de France over 182 kilometers from Veijle to Sonderborg. The decision was made in a mass sprint.
For a long time, the race day was characterized by a single driver: The Dane Magnus Cort, who had already secured the mountain jersey the day before, escaped immediately after the start and started a three-hour solo ride. The Dane quickly opened up a lead of up to seven minutes. His goal was very clear: to be the first to cross the three mountain classifications of the day and thus secure the dotted jersey for another day. That succeeded.
Sprinter teams pay attention to the distance
However, the three sprinter teams Quick-Step, BikeExchange and Lotto made sure that the lead didn’t get too big. Despite good weather conditions, the average speed of 39.7 km/h in the first hour was significantly slower than the route planner had planned.
Cort easily conceded the first two mountain points. Before the intermediate sprint, his lead was less than two minutes, but it was still enough for him to collect 20 sprint points. Second and third in the intermediate sprint were Wout van Aert and Fabio Jakobsen.
After the third climb and about 130 kilometers alone, Cort let himself be swallowed up by the approaching field about 50 kilometers from the finish – the race basically started all over again.