Jasper Philipsen sprints to victory at Tour de France as Adam Yates retains yellow jersey

Belgian outmuscles rivals to take Stage 3 honours as UAE Team Emirates' rider stays in overall lead

Belgian rider Jasper Philipsen celebrates after winning Stage 3 of the Tour de France on July 3, 2023. AFP

Belgian sprinter Jasper Philipsen outpaced and outmuscled the other fast men to take the high-speed bunch finish at the end of Stage 3 of the Tour de France on Monday.

Philipsen – led out expertly by his Alpecin-Deceuninck teammate Mathieu van der Poel – held off German Phil Bauhaus, with Australian Caleb Ewan third as the race crossed into France after two days in the Spanish Basque Country.

Adam Yates, of UAE Team Emirates, retains the overall lead as all the chief contenders finished together after a 182km run from northern Spain to Bayonne.

The British rider leads teammate Tadej Pogacar and his brother Simon by six seconds.

During a hectic finish on Monday, Wout Van Aert – who finished second Stage 2 – attempted to pass Philipsen on the inside of the final bend but ran out of room because of the barriers and was forced to slow up.

The race commissaries reviewed video footage of the incident before confirming Philipsen's victory. It was his third career win on the Tour and his seventh victory of the season.

“It's not easy to stay on Mathieu's wheel,” said Philipsen, who has now won the last three bunch sprints on the Tour after Carcassonne and the Champs Elysees last year.

“Everything went according to plan, he's the perfect lead-out rider. When he goes it's hard to go past him. We've been working hard and I'm really happy it has worked as early in the Tour as today.

Philipsen said about his arduous wait for the jury to make their decision: “It was a bit in doubt, but it did make it really exciting in the end.

“It was tense, but it's the Tour de France and there are no presents to nobody, so I think everybody goes all in and I think I can be really happy with our team performance today.”

Van der Poel, who has not shown great form in the first two stages, was up to the task on Monday.

“It was a quiet stage, until the last 40 kilometres when it got dangerous,” the Dutchman said. “I think it was a perfect lead-out from the team and I had to bring him to the 300m line."

There was some concern that the Tour could be affected following a wave of rioting in France, triggered by the fatal shooting of a teenager by police last week, but no incidents were reported along the road or at the finish.

Another bunch sprint is expected on Tuesday's Stage 4 at the end of a flat route that sees the race travel 181.8km from Dax to Nogaro.