A flurry of numbers, statistics, and points of reflection from the third stage of the Tour de France.

2 - 1470: MERLIER IMITATES VAN DER POEL
The day after Mathieu Van der Poel's second Tour victory, which came 1,470 days after his first, Tim Merlier achieved exactly the same performance! The Belgian won the 3rd stage of the 2021 Tour in Pontivy. At the time, he was a teammate of Van der Poel and Philipsen, while now, in his second Tour, he rides for Soudal Quick-Step.

13: SOUDAL UNSTOPPABLE
This is the 13th consecutive Tour edition where the Soudal Quick-Step team (under various names) has won at least one stage, since 2013. The last time was Remco Evenepoel's victory in the time trial between Gevrey and Chambertin last year. This is the team's 53rd victory at the Tour de France.

2/3: BELGIUM LIKE IN 2005
Belgium has won two of the first three stages thanks to Jasper Philipsen (1st stage) and Tim Merlier (3rd stage). This hadn't happened since 2005, 20 years ago, when Tom Boonen won stages 2 and 3.

8: VAN DER POEL EQUALS KNETEMANN
Mathieu Van der Poel keeps his yellow jersey. This is his 8th yellow jersey, the same number as his compatriot Gerrie Knetemann. This makes him the third Dutchman in this ranking, behind Joop Zoetemelk (22 times) and Wout Wagtmans (12 times).

1: MILAN'S JOY IN GREEN
Jonathan Milan has won the green jersey for the first time in his career. It's also the first time he's finished among the top three in a Tour stage (2nd today). At 24 years, 9 months, and 6 days, Milan is the youngest Italian rider to lead the points classification since Francesco Moser in 1975 (24 years and 8 days).

16: WELLENS RECLAIMS POLKA DOT JERSEY
Tim Wellens won the polka dot jersey in stage 3 in 2019, before losing it in stage 18. First rider on the Côte de Cassel, he has won the jersey for the 16th time. One more day and he'll enter the top 10 riders who have worn the jersey most often, alongside Peter de Clercq, Laurent Jalabert, and Chris Froome (17 times).

8: PHILIPSEN OUT OF RACE IN GREEN JERSEY
After falling during the intermediate sprint at Isbergues, Jasper Philipsen is the eighth green jersey to withdraw from the race. The seven previous ones were Cyrille Guimard (1972), Jan Raas (1980), Mario Cipollini (1993), Jaan Kirsipuu (1999), Alessandro Petacchi (2003), Tom Boonen (2005), and Marcel Kittel (2017).

5: BAUHAUS COMES CLOSE AGAIN
This is the fifth time Phil Bauhaus has been on the podium in a Tour de France stage, but the German hasn't won yet! He's finished second twice (Bayonne 2023, Nimes 2024) and third three times (Nogaro 2023, Moulins 2023, Dunkerque 2025). The record for podiums without a Tour win is 10, held by Jan Mertens, Gilbert Desmet, and Andreas Kloden.

108: THE LONG ITALIAN WAIT
108 stages and 2,171 days have passed since Italy last won the Tour: the last victory was in stage 20 of the 2019 edition, won by Vincenzo Nibali. This is the longest wait for a country that has already won. Second in Dunkerque, Jonathan Milan aims to end this drought this year.