Tim Merlier won the third stage of the Tour de France (his second career victory in the Grande Boucle, ed.), the Valencienne-Dunkerque of 178.3 km, burning Jonathan Milan in the photo finish. This stage will be remembered for the numerous crashes: even in the sprint, with an already reduced group, there was a crash with Davide Ballerini ending up against the barriers. Third place for Phil Bauhaus, fourth for Soren Waerenskjold and Pavel Bittner, with Mathieu Van der Poel maintaining the yellow jersey.

THE RACE. The morning rain and strong headwind dampened the attackers' spirits to the point that no action developed, and the stage only came to life approaching the intermediate sprint in Isbergues. Here, an involuntary swerve by Coquard, who bumped into Laurenz Rex and "bounced" to the center of the road, overwhelming Jasper Philipsen, who fell heavily. The Tour's green jersey - who had won the first sprint in Lille and worn the first yellow jersey - was forced to withdraw with a probable clavicle or right shoulder injury and was taken to the hospital for tests.

Also worth noting was Tim Wellens' action - with the group's permission - to take the last available point for the Mont Cassel GPM, conquering the polka dot jersey: a precise team strategy that avoided Tadej Pogacar having to go through the long award ceremony ritual and arriving at the hotel, as happened yesterday, around 9 PM.

And three kilometers from the finish, another crash occurred, in which Jordi Meeus fell badly and Remco Evenepoel was also involved, without problems for the general classification because the neutralization was 5 km.

An unenthusiastic stage due to the wind, to the point that the combativity prize jury decided not to assign it, so tomorrow no one will wear the red number.

"It was an incredibly tough battle, it was difficult to get the right position and I spent a lot of energy. I knew I had to stay close to Milan and knew it would be difficult to beat him, but I'm very happy with my second Tour victory. At first, I thought I had won, then there was a moment of uncertainty, but fortunately, the confirmation came. We knew it would be a complicated finish with the headwind, so I spent even more energy trying to stay in the best position. I came to the Tour to win stages and I'm happy with this victory," these were Tim Merlier's words at the end of the stage.

Tomorrow's fourth stage of the Tour de France is 174.2 km, from Amiens Métropole to Rouen, with Milan restarting in the green jersey. Van der Poel will restart in the overall leader's jersey, with a 4'' advantage over Pogacar and 6'' over Vingegaard.

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FINISH ORDER

1. T. MERLIER - SOUDAL QUICK-STEP     04h 16' 55''     -     B : 10''     -
2. J. MILAN - LIDL-TREK     04h 16' 55''     -     B : 6''     -
3. P. BAUHAUS - BAHRAIN VICTORIOUS     04h 16' 55''     -     B : 4''     -
4 . S. WAERENSKJOLD - UNO-X MOBILITY     04h 16' 55''     -     -     -
5. P. BITTNER - TEAM PICNIC POSTNL     04h 16' 55''     -     -     -
6. B. GIRMAY - INTERMARCHÈ - WANTY     04h 16' 55''     -     -     -
7. K. GROVES - ALPECIN-DECEUNINCK     04h 16' 55''     -     -     -
8. D. VAN POPPEL - RED BULL - BORA - HANSGROHE     04h 16' 55''     -     -     -
9. P. ACKERMANN - ISRAEL - PREMIER TECH     04h 16' 55''     -     -     -
10. A. CAPIOT - ARKEA-B&B HOTELS     04h 16' 55''     -     -     -

to reread the live coverage of the entire stage CLICK HERE