Tim Merlier powers to stage three victory as Philipsen crashes out – Tour de France

Tour de France 2025

Stage 3

Soudal-QuickStep’s Tim Merlier sprinted to victory on a crash-affected stage 3 of the Tour de France, just beating Jonathan Milan (Lidl-Trek) in a photo finish as the pair were separated by only centimetres at the finish.

Merlier and Milan were among the survivors of a tense finale, which saw two crashes in the final 3km, after sprint favourite Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Deceuninck) had already crashed out earlier in the stage.

Merlier’s final throw just earnt him the stage win, with Phil Bauhaus (Bahrain Victorious) coming up in third.

Milan’s Lidl-Trek team had seemed the most organised in the final 1,500 metres of the stage, but the Italian quickly became isolated and Merlier – who had also been on his own – was able to surf the wheels and carry enough speed to come up and pass Milan right at the last moment.

“It was a really hard battle. It was difficult to be in position,” Merlier said at the finish. “I lost Bert [Van Lerberghe] before the last corner, but I must say the team did an incredible job in the last 5km, but then the real chaos started and it was really difficult to find position.

“I think from two kilometres I fought back from behind to come back in position, and I was in the wind all the time, and only with 500 metres to go I found a bit of slip stream. I know next to Milan is always difficult.”

A crash at 3km to go saw various riders hit the deck, including Jordi Meeus (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) and Geraint Thomas (Ineos Grenadiers), and Remco Evenepoel (Soudal-QuickStep).

Just round the final turn, another handful of riders went down as various wheels slide out on the corner, including Cees Bol (XDS-Astana) and Alexis Renard (Cofidis).

The messy final came after a fairly sedate day. There was no breakaway on the flat, 178km stage from Valenciennes to Dunkirk, and the average speed was as low as 40 kph as the peloton took a bit of a break after two hard days in Northern France.

Amidst the relative calm, there was one impactful moment of chaos, when green jersey Jasper Philipsen crashed heavily at the intermediate sprint, injuring his shoulder and putting an end to his race, just two days after winning stage 1.

In the overall standings, Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck) holds onto the yellow after finishing in the main group, whilst all the riders who crashed will be given the same time as the stage winner, having gone down within the 5km safe zone.

The 178km route of stage 3 was almost entirely flat, bar one 2.3km rise in the final 40km, so it looked nailed on for a sprint. After the flag dropped, a few riders did try to attack and form a breakaway, but after around 20km, the attempts dried up and it became clear that there wasn’t going to be a day-long break, making an uneventful stage even less eventful.

Just because there was no break didn’t mean it was an easy or relaxed day, however, with winners of the first two stages, Alpecin-Deceuninck, taking control and setting a steady pace all through the first half of the stage, keeping the peloton on its toes.

Still, very little happened in the middle part of the stage as the peloton wound down from Valenciennes to Dunkerque. Things started to heat up towards the intermediate sprint with 60km to go as the sprinters’ teams started to get in order, but when they reached the sprint, disaster struck for Philipsen, who crashed heavily.

He collided with Bryan Coquard (Cofidis) who had just bumped into Laurenz Rex (Intermarché-Wanty), and whilst those two stayed up the Belgian hit the tarmac heavily. He got up, with his skinsuit ripped around his shoulder and back, but as the doctors examined him, it was clear he couldn’t continue.

Avoiding the crash, it was Milan who took maximum points at the intermediate point. There was a brief settling after the sprint, as teams regrouped after Philipsen’s incident, and there was also some ongoing tension between Alpecin-Deceuninck riders and Cofidis and Intermarché.

With 38km to go, another squeeze in the middle of the peloton saw a trio of riders crash, whilst up front Tim Wellens (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) set off in a rather unexpected attack. However, with a mountain point up for grabs, Wellens was in a position to move into the KoM lead, and therefore take the jersey from Pogačar, who would then avoid extra podium duties post stage.

Wellens’ gap grew very fast, up to a minute and a half in just a few kilometres with no impetus behind, so he easily claimed the one point atop Mont Cassel to take the polka-dot jersey. He immediately sat up over the top, and was soon back in the bunch with 27km to go.

There was a bit of an entente into the final 20km, with not quite as much tension as there may usually be in a sprint stage, with no break to chase and some caution after Philipsen’s crash. With 10km to go, things started to heat up and the fight for sprint position began proper.

With 3km to go, another crash at a pinch-point saw a handful of riders go down but even more held up, with riders including Thomas and Evenepoel affected, whilst Red Bull sprinter Jordi Meeus looked to come down the heaviest.

Going into the final 2km, Lidl-Trek looked the most organised with two riders leading in front of Milan, but this quickly fell away and the Italian was alone earlier than he would have liked, moving onto the Picnic PostNL lead-out.

Merlier was in an even worse position, surfing on his own in the final 500m, but he found his way up to Milan, and in the final push for the line, it was the Belgian who just got the better of the Italian.

In a small consolation, Milan will move into the green jersey after adding points to his haul, and due to former points leader Philipsen’s abandon.

At 174.2 kilometres tomorrow’s stage four travels on undulating terrain from Amiens to Rouen. Both places have a bit of a history when it comes to sprinting. But this time, the finish around Rouen is set up in a way that’ll have the hill specialists licking their lips.

The riders race from one Côte to the next during the last 30 kilometres of the race. The run-up has not been entirely flat either, but the punchy climbing intensifies in that part of the race.

Zooming in on the finale, we see that the party kicks off just under 50 kilometres from the line. The Côte de Jacques Anquetil can still be considered something of a warm-up: 3.5 kilometres at an average gradient of 3.6%. But after the intermediate sprint in Saint-Adrien, things really get going. First up is the Côte de Belbeuf: 1.3 kilometres at 9.1%. Then, in the final 20 kilometres, the action hits its peak with a trio of sharp climbs: the Côte de Bonsecours (900 metres at 7.2%), the Côte de la Grand’Mare (1.8 kilometres at 5%), and the Rampe Saint-Hillaire (800 metres at 10.6%).

At the top of the Saint-Hillaire Wall, there are still over 5 kilometres to go. It’s mostly downhill from there, although the road does rise again after the flamme rouge before levelling out in the final few hundred metres.

It’s been a while since the Tour last visited Rouen. Back in 2012, André Greipel sprinted to victory in the capital of Normandy. Obviously, the finale was nothing like the one we will see tomorrow.

Stage 3 result:

1. Tim Merlier (Bel) Soudal Quick-Step, in 4:16:55
2. Jonathan Milan (Ita) Lidl-Trek
3. Phil Bauhaus (Ger) Bahrain Victorious
4 Søren Wærenskjold (Nor) Uno-X Mobility
5. Pavel Bittner (Cze) Picnic PostNL
6. Biniam Girmay (Eri) Intermarché-Wanty
7. Kaden Groves (Aus) Alpecin-Deceuninck
8. Pascal Ackermann (Ger) IPT
9. Amaury Capiot (Bel) Arkéa-B&B Hotels
10. Alberto Dainese (Ita) Tudor Pro Cycling, all at same time

General Classification:

1. Mathieu van der Poel (Ned) Alpecin-Deceuninck, in 12:55:37
2. Tadej Pogačar (Slo) UAE Team Emirate-XRG, +4s
3. Jonas Vingegaard (Den) Visma-Lease a Bike, +6s
4. Kévin Vauquelin (Fra) Arkéa-B&B Hotels, +10s
5. Matteo Jorgenson (USA) Visma-Lease a Bike
6. Enric Mas (Esp) Movistar, all at same time
7. Joseph Blackmore (GBR) Israel-Premier Tech, +41s
8. Tobias Halland Johannessen (Nor) Uno-X Mobility
9. Ben O’Connor, (Aus) Jayco AlUla, all at same time
10. Emanuel Buchmann (Ger) Cofidis, +49s