Jasper Philipsen won the third stage of the Tour de France in a bunched sprint on Monday, while Adam Yates of Britain kept the race leader’s yellow jersey.
Philipsen, who won two stages in last year’s race, was expertly led to the front by Mathieu van der Poel and comfortably held off Phil Bauhaus and Caleb Ewan as they dashed to the line.
Fabio Jakobsen was fourth ahead of Wout van Aert, who failed to overtake Philipsen on the right in the last 50 meters and backed off near a crash barrier.
“It was tense, but it’s the Tour de France, there are no presents for nobody. I think everybody goes all in, and I can be really happy with our team today,” said Philipsen.
“I had a great lead-out with Jonas [Rickaert], he did a great first part, and then Mathieu did a fantastic job. If Mathieu has the space to go, then for sure, he has the speed. You just know that no other lead-out will pass him.
“It was a tricky finale with the S-bend in the end, so I tried to take the shortest route to the finish. I’m really happy to get first over the line.”
Yates maintained his six-second lead over Tadej Pogacar and his twin brother Simon Yates in third. Defending champion Jonas Vingegaard stayed in sixth spot heading into Tuesday’s fourth stage.
Tuesday’s 181.8-kilometer route from Dax to Nogaro in southwestern France is almost totally flat and again favors sprinters.
⏪ Relive a hectic final KM for the first sprint stage of the #TDF2023. Jasper Philipsen of @AlpecinDCK is triumphant.
⏪ Revivez le dernier km du premier sprint de ce #TDF2023, avec Jasper Philipsen, de la @AlpecinDCK qui lève les bras pic.twitter.com/vr9nCBIEeQ
— Tour de France™ (@LeTour) July 3, 2023
