Sometimes at the Tour de France, the most dramatic days come when they are least expected. This is part of the complicated puzzle that makes up Grand Tour racing – we all talk about the mountains and big stages that may make or break a rider’s race, but the reality is that disaster can strike at any given moment. It could be on an innocuous stretch of tarmac on road on the outskirts of Isbergues, a commune in Northern France, like it was for green jersey wearer Jasper Philipsen on stage three. It could be on a chaotic, messy approach to the sprint finish to Dunkirk like it was for general classification contender Remco Evenepoel, or TotalEnergies Emilien Jeanniere. For all its rules and regulations, the Tour de France is, paradoxically, an utterly uncontrollable beast. Monday’s stage was proof of that.
The first 118 kilometres of racing were relatively serene, controlled from the front by Alpecin-Deceuninck, the team of yellow jersey wearer Mathieu van der Poel. There were not even any opportunistic breakaway riders who fancied their chances of some TV airtime or prize money from intermediate sprints. Instead, the peloton moved in one, solid clump through the drizzly, flat countryside of the Hauts-de-France. Things can change very quickly in this bike race, though.
As the green jersey sprint point approached and a hectic fight for points followed, the battle between the fast men caused a type of stress that foreshadowed what was to come later in the day. It was Philipsen who fell victim to the madness, abandoning the race after a high-speed crash with 60 kilometres to go, covered in road rash and with a suspected broken shoulder. His green jersey hopes were dashed, and the morale that Alpecin-Deceuninck had been carrying after two consecutive victories was destroyed. The Tour can take as much as it can give.
That was not to be the end of the catastrophe on stage three, either. As a peloton full of relatively fresh legs – thanks to a strong headwind throughout the stage – sped towards the line, navigating technical turns and road furniture at speeds of over 40kmph, the casualties continued. It was the sort of sprint finish that had you watching through your fingers from the sofa – wheels touched, shoulders barged, riders flicked from each side of the road. The result? A victorious Tim Merlier for Soudal-Quick-Step emerging through the carnage just ahead of Lidl-Trek’s Jonathan Milan, with those injured and wounded from the crashes rolling through in dribs and drabs behind them.
“It was a real bummer to lose Jasper – it is one of our goals to win stages with him and go for green jersey so it is not our best day,” yellow jersey wearer Mathieu van der Poel commented after the stage.
“There were a lot of crashes. I think one of the main reasons for this was the headwind – all riders were fresh in the end and a lot of riders saw the opportunity to win their stage, with the headwind it is easier to come behind. Once we lost Jasper, it was difficult for us to focus again after the news and we were not sharp enough in the sprint to deliver a sprint for Kaden [Groves.]”
Van der Poel himself would have been mainly preoccupied with not losing time so he could remain in the race lead after today, but the sprinters who were dreaming of an elusive Tour stage win were taking every risk they needed to in order to have a chance. Stage winner Merlier explained after the stage that it was virtually impossible to maintain position in the pandemonium of the final kilometres.
“It was a really hard battle and difficult to be in position. The team did an incredible job until the last five kilometres and then the real chaos started. It was really hard to find position with Bert [Van Lerberghe]. In the last 2km I fought back from behind to come back in position and I was all the time in the wind. Then with 500m to go I found a bit of slipstream,” the Belgian rider commented. “The headwind made everything really difficult, no team can pull it all to the line, they always come back and you really need to use a lot of energy to be in position.”
Merlier, in the end, took the stage by a tyre width and will be one of the very few riders with happy memories of the 178-kilometre day from Valenciennes to Dunkirk. Milan, who was within touching distance of his first Tour victory for Lidl-Trek, was dejected after the finish, explaining that the complications of the headwind and added havoc in the peloton made it difficult to correctly calculate his sprint.
“It was close to the victory and when you are so close you feel really sad about it,” the Italian said. “I was the only guy to have a strong lead-out train – it’s always important to have guys like my teammates believing in what we are doing and really fighting to be there, I’m sorry I didn't give them the result we were looking for.
“It was a chaotic and stressful first day, we are doing our best. It was a complicated sprint with this big road in the final and it is never easy to keep position, everyone is fighting to be first.”
There will be many who raced today that are looking forward to the climbs that come on stage four to create some semblance of hierarchy in the peloton again. While long, flat sprint stages aren’t especially tiring physically, the mental focus required to remain upright and out of trouble should not be underestimated. Monday was a day of typical Tour de France disaster, born out of nothing but strong winds, some bends at the finish and momentary lapses of concentration. On paper, it should have been a simple day for many, but you never know what to expect in this bike race. The words of Van der Poel summed up the feeling among the peloton at the finish of stage three: “I’m just happy I stayed on my bike.”
