Tour de France: Alaphilippe wins stage 3

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Julian Alaphilippe (Deceuninck-QuickStep) stormed to victory on stage 3 of the Tour de France in Epernay after a powerful solo attack that also netted him the maillot jaune as the race returned to France.

Alaphilippe attacked boldly but decisively with 15 kilometres remaining near the summit of the final climb of the Cote de Mutigny and never looked back. He built up a lead over the final rolling kilometres and held on to win, while Michael Matthews (Team Sunweb) and Jasper Stuyven (Trek-Segafredo) came over the line 26 seconds down with a group that contained most of the pre-race favourites.

Overnight leader Mike Teunissen (Jumbo-Visma) was unable to live with the pace on the final set of climbs and was finally dropped on the Cote de Mutigny, but the stage outcome was dominated by Alaphilippe, who stamped his authority over the peloton despite a huge amount of pressure on his shoulders coming into the stage.

Deceuninck-QuickStep had fired blanks in the opening two stages of the race, but stage 3 was perfectly suited to Alaphilippe and his aggressive style of riding. His eventual attack came from the front after his teammates softened up the peloton and dropped a number of the pure sprinters, and when the Frenchman eventually rode away from the front of the group he left everyone else standing. Even Egan Bernal (Team Ineos) a favourite for the overall classification, could not respond when the Frenchman skipped clear.

In a flash, Alaphilippe made contact with Tim Wellens – the last man standing from the early break – but the Belgian had no response when Alaphilippe kicked again at the summit of the final ascent. Over the final 15km, several teams, from Team Ineos to Jumbo-Visma tried to nullify Alaphilippe’s attack, and although they reduced the gap to around 30 seconds inside the final 4km, the Frenchman hung on to take the first yellow jersey of his blossoming career. He sprinted up the final unclassified climb to the finish before unleashing a wild celebration.

Alaphilippe now leads Wout van Aert and Steven Kruijswijk (both Jumbo-Visma) in the overall standings, with defending champion Geraint Thomas (Team Ineos) in seventh overall. Thibaut Pinot (Groupama-FDJ) and Bernal finished well, however, to put a handful of seconds into Thomas and several other yellow jersey contenders.

Wellens leads the charge

After stage 2 and the team time trial, there was a sense of definition to the overall standings at this year’s Tour de France. For the most part, Sunday’s stage had only created minimal time gaps, but the differences created a sense of calm and stability for the first time in this year’s race.

Little wonder that it took just a few kilometers for the main break to form, with Jumbo-Visma controlling the outcome. They man-marked Thomas De Gendt (Lotto Soudal) for obvious reasons but were willing to allow his teammate Tim Wellens room to maneuver an advantage. He jumped clear with Stephane Rossetto (Cofidis), Yoann Offredo (Wanty-Gobert), Anthony Delaplace (Arkea-Samsic) and Tour debutant Paul Ourselin (Total Direct Energie).

Tony Martin, who looks revitalized in Jumbo Visma colours – dutifully positioned himself on the front of the peloton soon after, and the pattern for the next 150km was set. The break established a lead of over five minutes as the German powerhouse set about holding the leaders at bay.

The status quo remained until the final 60km when the tension in the bunch began to rise. The final hour of racing was peppered with narrow, twisty roads and short but testing climbs, with the fight for positioning near the front was of critical importance. Patrick Bevin (CCC Team), Jack Haig (Mitchelton-Scott) and Steve Cummings (Dimension Data) were all involved in minor falls, while Romain Bardet (AG2R La Mondiale) and Ilnur Zakarin (Katusha-Alpecin) both punctured. 

Wellens attacked with 48km to go and immediately distanced his breakaway companions, and on the Côte de Nanteuil-la-Forêt and Côte d’Hautvillers he held his lead over the peloton at close to two minutes. The remnants of the break were about to be caught while Wellens was holding his own on the Côte de Champillon, but although he looked a class act, his chances of taking the stage looked slim at best. Behind him, Astana and Bora-Hansgrohe upped the pace, with several sprinters, including Caleb Ewan (Lotto Soudal) unable to handle the pressure. Teunissen was already dangling off the back of the peloton at that point, but on the Mutigny he was distanced for good as the bunch slimmed down to less than 50 riders.

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Alaphilippe powers clear

By then Astana had Wellens in their sights and it looked as though the GC candidates might be brought into play. However, Jakob Fuglsang and the impressive-looking Bernal saved their powder for another day. Alaphilippe had other ideas. While everyone else was on their limits, the Frenchman ghosted to the front before putting in a vicious attack. In seconds he was on Wellens’ wheel, with the Belgian pulling his foot from his pedal close to the summit of the climb. Whether Wellens had suffered a mechanical or was simply exhausted was immediately unclear but he could only watch on as Alaphilippe put in another brutal acceleration.

Michael Woods (EF Education First) and Mikel Landa (Movistar) briefly set up a four-rider counter-attack, but their efforts were shortlived as Alaphilippe continued to add to his advantage. With 8km to go the gap stood at 50 seconds, and despite the Frenchman suffering in the final stages of the race, he had enough in the tank to seal another memorable win for the ever-growing Alaphilippe scrapbook. Few would bet against the world’s number one rider adding to it again before the race reaches Paris.

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