Tour de France Stage 3: Philipsen Does It Again

TOUR DE FRANCE 2023 | STAGE 3 | AMOREBIETA-ETXANO > BAYONNE

Jasper Philipsen won stage 3 to Bayonne in a bunch sprint finish ahead of Phil Bauhaus and Caleb Ewan. It’s the third Tour de France stage victory and the 30th career win for the 25 year old Belgian as well as the fifth Tour de France win for Alpecin-Deceuninck. Adam Yates retained the overall lead.

POWLESS AND PICHON IN THE LEAD

The start of stage 3 was given at 13.14 to 174 riders. King of the Mountains Neilson Powless (EF Education-EasyPost) was first in action. He was joined at the front right after flag off by Laurent Pichon (Arkea-Samsic). Powless added points to his account in the King of the Mountains competition at Trabakua (km 13.8) and Millol (37.8) to mathematically secure the polka dot jersey at least until the Tour reaches the Pyrénées on stage 5. A time gap of 3’ minutes was recorded after 30km of racing. 37.2km were covered by the leading duo in the first hour of racing.

Before the intermediate sprint at Deba (km 65.8), stage 2 winner Victor Lafay (Cofidis) escaped from the peloton to score 15 points behind Pichon and Powless in order to defend his green jersey.

NEILSON POWLESS: “IT DIDN’T COST ME TOO MUCH ENERGY”

“It has been a successful day. I got to score some KOM points today and it didn’t cost too much energy, so I’m happy. We definitely have the focus on the Pyrenees, both for the KOM jersey and to get a stage win. Several teammates of mine have been resting up these days, so hopefully we will be able to pull something off. I felt very good today. Everything is going in good direction. I’ll have one day to relax tomorrow that will help get me ready for the Pyrenees.”

PICHON FIRST IN FRANCE

At km 112, after having crested the four categorized climbs in first position, Powless sat up and left Pichon alone in the lead. Pichon entered France with an advantage of two minutes over the peloton and 60km remaining. It was down to 40’’ fifteen kilometres later as the teams of the sprinters entered in action. After 156km in the lead, Pichon was reeled in with 37km remaining. No breakaway took shape in the finale as sprinters’ teams set a high tempo and GC teams made sure their captain remained well positioned.

VAN DER POEL LEADS PHILIPSEN OUT

Intermarché-Circus-Wanty paved the way for Biniam Girmay to win his first Tour de France stage but the masterpiece in terms of lead out was made by Mathieu van der Poel at the service of Jasper Philipsen who started the 2023 Tour de France the same way he finished 2022. After winning his second stage on the Champs-Elysées last year, he claimed the first bunch sprint this year, pipping on the line Phil Bauhaus who is taking part in the Grande Boucle for the first time. Caleb Ewan rounded out the podium. Adam Yates retained the Maillot Jaune.

JASPER PHILIPSEN: “SUPER HAPPY TO WIN THE FIRST SPRINT”

“It was a tense final, but this is the Tour de France: there are no presents to nobody, everybody goes all-in. I can be really happy with my team’s performance, great lead-out with Jonas and Mathieu. I am really happy I kept it to the finish line. It’s amazing to have Mathieu van der Poel as a lead-out man. If he had the space to go, for sure he has the speed to fight for the win. It was a tricky final, with that bend close to the finish line, and I took the shortest way to the finish.”

“The first sprint is the most nervous one, as everybody is fresh and motivated. There was a lot of stress bunch with 70 to go. Everyone fighting for the win. We will try to go for another stage win in the coming stages, as soon as tomorrow. I’m super happy to win the first sprint.”

LAURENT PICHON: “I HAD TO RESTART THE TEAM AFTER TWO DIFFICULT DAYS”

“It’s my second time. I was also the most combative one day in 2018. After a few years of absence from the Tour de France, I enjoy this even more. And I do it on the stage that brings the Tour back to France, so it adds some pleasure. We’ll see if I can do it again but I’m determined to keep going. The first two stages were a bit complicated for our team but as a road captain, I had to show that we were able to restart on a good note.”

TADEJ POGACAR: “I TRIED TO STAY SAFE IN THE FINALE”

“It has been a crazy finale, especially in the last 15 kilometres. I tried to stay safe in the finale, as it was a really fast finish… but the rest of the stage was calmer. So far. so good. We have two easier days from the GC perspective, as I hope tomorrow’s stage is like today’s, and then we will hit the Pyrenees. The Tour de France is long but we will be better off if we can get a few seconds here and there. So yeah, we will see later on if I have the legs [to win the Tour de France] or not.”

VICTOR LAFAY: “IT WAS KIND OF EASY TO GO AND GRAB THOSE POINTS”

“I felt happy on the bike all day. I’ve been lucky to have a quiet stage. Everyone congratulated me, the crowd and the champions of the peloton. I enjoyed it. I thought I could break away but I’ve remembered that we have three weeks of racing left. It was kind of easy to go and grab those points but Bryan Coquard encouraged me to go for it. It’s been tight but it has worked, so I’ll have another day in green.”

ADAM YATES: “IT’S HARD TO RECOVER DURING THE TOUR…”

“It has been a nice day out there. For us it’s been more about recovering as much as possible. It’s hard to have the chance to do so in the Tour de France, so we try and grab every chance we get. As for the rest, it was all about staying out of trouble and possible crashes, and avoid any carnage that may happen. In the end, it went well. The first sprint day it’s always tense. The route has been nice in these first stages, as there has been some road furniture here and there yet there have also been many well-surfaced, wide roads.”