Merlier edges out Milan after crash-marred Tour stage

Yahoo

07-07-2025

Tim Merlier has won the third stage of the Tour de France after a chaotic sprint finish on a crash-marred section that saw the Belgian edge just ahead of Italian rider Jonathan Milan.
The Soudal Quick-Step rider needed a photo finish to confirm he ended narrowly in front of Milan at the finish line in the coastal city of Dunkerque.
But the stage took a dramatic turn 60km from the end when Belgian Jasper Philipsen was forced to withdrew from the race following a brutal crash that made it impossible for him to continue the stage.
Alpecin-Deceuninck rider Philipsen hit the road hard following contact with Bryan Coquard during an intermediate sprint, his fall coming just two days after winning the opening stage and his injuries making it impossible for him to continue. "Displaced fracture of the right collarbone, surgery will definitely be required. At least one broken rib, possibly two," Philipsen's Alpecin-Deceuninck team said in a statement.
"He will be, as soon as possible, transferred to the hospital in Herentals, where he will undergo surgery."
While Philipsen, who was also wearing the green jersey, ended his Tour on a sour note, it will give an opportunity to his Australian teammate Kaden Groves, who could step into the breach as lead sprinter for Alpecin-Deceuninck, despite this being his Tour de France debut.
The winner of nine stages across the Giro d'Italia and Vuelta a Espana, the 26-year-old Queenslander played his part in helping Philipsen to victory on day one. He finished seventh in the chasing pack on Monday and now becomes his team's main sprint focus.
🇪🇺 Victory goes to the European Champion @MerlierTim !🇪🇺 La victoire revient au champion d'Europe @MerlierTim !#TDF2025 pic.twitter.com/aWO9LFaPNw
— Tour de France™ (@LeTour) July 7, 2025
Philipsen's manager Philip Roodhooft said: "It's clear that the other two riders collided and as a result Jasper was hit and crashed badly. There's a reason for it but we're not talking about who's to blame, it's a case of bad luck and an incident in the race,"
"But obviously the circumstances for us as a team and for Jasper individually are terrible," he said. "It's a blow to the mental health of the whole team and it's the worst thing for Jasper. But it goes on."
Coquard was visibly emotional in the aftermath of the race.
"I was clearly off balance and lost the pedal. I'd like to apologise to Philipsen and Alpecin, even if it wasn't deliberate. Even though I'm not a bad lad, it wasn't pleasant," he said.
The next highest Australian stage three finishers were Robert Stannard (Bahrain-Victorious) 47th, Jarrad Drizners (Lotto) 57th, Jack Haig (Bahrain-Victorious) 103rd, Michael Storer, Ben O'Connor (Jayco AlUla) 130th and Harry Sweeny (EF Education) 136th.
O'Connor (Jayco AlUla), Australia's main hope for the General Classification, has moved himself up one more place to ninth position overall.
The peloton rode closely together for most of the 178.3 km flat stage from Valenciennes to Dunkerque.
Seemingly cautious, the riders held back from making any decisive moves, with nearly the entire group staying in the peloton until the final stretch, setting up a mass sprint finish.
"It was a really hard battle. It was difficult to be in position," Merlier said.
"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 slipstream. I know next to Milan is always difficult."
The messy finale saw two separate crashes within the last 3km with the first one bringing down several riders, including Geraint Thomas, Jordi Meeus and Remco Evenepoel.
Just ahead of the final corner, several riders lost control and went down, including Alexis Renard, Cees Bol, and Paul Penhoet, who chose to walk his bike across the finish line.
Tuesday's 174-km fourth stage starts from Amiens and ends with five consecutive small climbs to the Normandy city of Rouen.