Tour de France 2023
Stage 3 (Amorebieta-Etxano – Bayonne, 193.5 km):
BAYONNE. The third day of July at the Tour de France bears witness to Peter Sagan. On this day, he scored three victories – the most of all competitors.
In 2012, he triumphed in a memorable stage for Slovak cycling, as in the target city of Boulogne-sur-mer he was joined on the imaginary podium by the third Peter Velits. He then added a win in 2016 and twelve months later.
Also in 2023, Sagan belonged to a wider circle of favorites, as it was the first sprint finish of the 110th edition of the most famous bicycle race.
His TotalEnergies team had to deal with Stef Crass’ puncture about 25 km before the finish line, so Sagan was left with only the Italian Daniel Oss.
“It doesn’t matter if it’s Svorada or Sagan, they can do it themselves,” joked former cyclist Petr Benčík in a live broadcast on Czech television.
As expected, the stage was decided in the final spurt.
Mathieu van der Poel set up the position beautifully for Jasper Philipsen who won ahead of Bauhaus and Ewan. Sagan had a very good position for a long time, but in the end he didn’t even really get into the final sprint.
Finally, they classified him only in 19th place.
The referees consulted for a long time about the situation in which Wout van Aert tried to pass the barrier around Philipsen. Finally, the judges determined that the Jumbo-Visma driver was not ejected, so the results remained valid.
American Neilson Powless secured the dotted jersey, winning all four mountaineer premiums. The red number for the most fought rider of the stage was earned by the local 36-year-old competitor Laurent Pichon.
Adam Yates remained in the yellow jersey for the leader of the overall classification without any problems. He is ahead of Tadej Pogačar and his twin Simon by six seconds.
Overall ranking – individual jerseys:
YELLOW GREEN DOTTED WHITE TEAM CLASSIFICATION
The course of the 3rd stage at the Tour de France 2023
On Monday, the sprinters got their chance for the first time, although four smaller climbs awaited the peloton, but all of them were already in the first part of the stage.
In addition, the fact that no one rushed to breakaway after the start played into the cards for the sprint team, and in the end only two left. The leader of the climbers’ competition, Neilson Powless (EF Education) and with him Laurent Pichon (Arkéa-Samsic).
After the last hill 91.5 km before the finish Powless hung up his legs and only Pichon continued in front. His attempt ended about 45 km before the tape.
After that, the sprint teams were already formed at the front and the stage, which was going at a “trip” pace, was heading towards the expected mass finish.
In it, the Soudala-QuickStep racers did not keep the “train”, Mathieu van der Poel drove to the front and started his teammate Philipsen, who kept his position until the finish, where he crossed in front of Bauhaus and Ewan.
VIDEO: Jasper Philipsen wins stage 3 of the 2023 Tour de France
Sagan was in the lead, but he lost his position in the last kilometer and ultimately did not fight for the stage triumph.
Philipsen’s victory had to be confirmed by the jury, as he swerved slightly during his sprint and thus ruined the chances of Wout van Aert (Jumbo-Visma).
“The referees made me a bit uneasy. It’s always tense at the Tour. We had a good sprint train at the end, Mathieu gave me a great start and I’m happy that I won. The end with the chicane was quite problematic,” said the winner at the finish line.
Current overall ranking (yellow jersey)
2023-07-03 16:07:30
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