With a crash in the intermediate sprint taking out Jasper Philipsen, it was Tim Merlier taking the sprint win over Jonathan Milan to win Stage 3 of the 2025 Tour de France in Dunkerque. Merlier will take over the green jersey. No change for the maillot jaune as Van der Poel finishes safely with the peloton.
Stage 3 of the 2025 Tour de France was a 178km flat stage from Valenciennes to Dunkerque. There is one just one categorized ascent and 800 metres of elevation.
The day started with Matthieu Van Der Poel in the maillot jaune, who took the jersey from his teammate Jasper Philipsen yesterday with an explosive sprint. Van Der Poel sits 4” ahead of Tadej Pogacar and 6” ahead of Jonas Vingegaard. Then, three riders trail by 10”: Kevin Vauquelin, Matteo Jorgenson and Enric Mas.
As we picked up TV coverage, the peloton was all together under sunny skies, but the day started wet and windy. After a delayed start, the obligatory attack happened. Matej Mohoric (Bahrain Victorious) and Jonas Rickaert (Alpecin-Deceuninck) jumped off the front and were 15” ahead of the bunch at km 4, but they were caught shortly thereafter.
Less than 15km later, Rickaert went again, this time with Max Schachmann (Soudal Quick-Step), a couple of riders jumped on but they were all caught again by km 22.
The first hour went by without a lasting breakaway. at km 50, it was Emiel Verstrynge (Alpecin-Deceuninck) and Max Schachmann (Soudal Quick-Step) driving a bunched peloton through Mons-en-Pévèle. Dilier and Philipsen are also making themselves known towards the front.
The peloton is facing winds of up to 50km/h from the side. With the first rest day of this tour more than a week off, it was clear that the peloton was enjoying a rest where they could.
As the peloton was approaching the intermediate sprint in Isbergues, there was some movement in the group as the green jersey contenders were positioning themselves to go for the points. It was Milan taking the top points, but Jasper Philipsen went down in the excitement. It was a high speed crash, an unfortunately, his injuries were enough to force him to drop out of the race. With Philipsen out of the race, Biniam Girmay moves into the points lead.
The sprint done, there were 57km remaining and the peloton was all together. They were looking ahead to the Cat. 4 Côte de Cassel, a relatively mild 2.4km climb with a gradient of 3.8%.
With about 4km to the base of the climb, Tim Wellens went on the attack, opening a 15 second gap over the peloton. There was no chase, and Wellens was soon 1’20” off the front.
Wellens takes the KOM points and will take over the polka dot jersey from Tadej Pogacar this evening. He gave the cameras a nice wave and sat up and waited for the peloton to catch up.
30km to go and with the peloton over the climb, the sprint teams started to coalesce. INEOS, Bahrain Victorious, Jayco AlUla, UAE and Lotto were all sitting towards the front.
Headwinds awaited the peloton in Dunkerque. With no clear group of leaders, things were shaking up to be a bunch sprint from the full peloton.
5km to go and the peloton is still all together. Picnic-PostNL had a strong train moving up the right side of the road, but then it was Lotto moving up. No sign of Alpecin riders yet. Meanwhile, there’s a crash in the middle of the peloton.
In the final kilometer, it’s Lidl-trek at the front. Big crash in the final corner!
In a photo finish, it looks to be Tim Merlier.
The win marks Merlier’s 11th success of the year and confirm that he remains the best sprinter in the world. In doing so, he made sure our squad has now won at least a stage at the last 13 editions of the Grande Boucle, a unique feat among the many teams of the current peloton.
“I came here to win a stage and I’m happy I could achieve this goal. It’s my sixth Grand Tour stage victory and my fourth in the Soudal Quick-Step jersey, and I’m glad I could get a win early, after what has been a stressful start to the race. It feels good to be back on the top spot of the podium at the Tour de France!”
“It was a really hard battle. It was difficult to be in position and I lost Bert before the last corner. The team did an incredible job until the last five kilometers but then the real chaos started and it was really difficult to find a good position. I had to fight back to come in position while being in the wind all the time, which took a lot of energy. With 500 meters to go, I found a bit of slipstream and I just did my best when I launched my sprint. It’s a great day for the Wolfpack and we can be proud.”
2025 Tour de France: Stage 3 Brief Results
- Tim Merlier (Soudal Quick-Step) @ 4h 16’55”
- Jonathan Milan (Lidl-Trek) s.t.
- Phil Bauhaus (Bahrain Victorious) s.t.
- Soren Waerenskjold (Uno-X Mobility) s.t.
- Pavel Bittner (Picnic PostNL) s.t
General Classification After Stage 3:
- Matthieu Van der Poel (Alpecin-Decueninck) at 12h 55’37”
- Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates) @ 4″
- Jonas Vingegaard (Visma Lease a Bike) @ 6″
- Kevin Vauquelin (Arkea B&B Hotels) @10″
- Matteo Jorgenson (Visma Lease a Bike) @ 10″
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