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- Caleb Ewan (Lotto Soudal) wins the third stage of the Tour de France from Nice to Sisteron in the final sprint.
- The Australian uses the best tactics in the sprint and prevails over Sam Bennett (Deceuninck-Quickstep).
- Bennett’s teammate Julian Alaphilippe has a quiet day and defends the “Maillot jaune” without problems.
When the field turned onto the home straight after 197 kilometers, the best sprinters had long since moved into a good position. But not all of the favorites remained calm enough to race for victory to the finish. For example, Peter Sagan went to the wind too early and had to be content with fifth place. Australian Caleb Ewan did better. The 26-year-old stayed in the wake for a long time and was able to outwit his competitors.
Cousin’s solo escape is not rewarded
Frenchman Jérôme Cousin (Total Direct Energie) shaped the stage for a long time. After parting ways for the first time with compatriots Anthony Pérez (Cofidis) and Benoît Cosnefroy (AG2R) to score points for the mountain classification, he drove alone in front of the field for a long time. With 16 kilometers to go, the peloton caught up with the French. Cousin was named the most combative driver of the day for his performance.
Cousin’s escape partner Pérez became the unlucky person on stage. The 29-year-old had won the first two mountain classifications of the stage and would have donned the red dot mountain jersey at the end, but Pérez fell on a descent some 70 kilometers from the finish. He broke his left clavicle and had to finish the course.
Hirschi goes white
After Marc Hirschi narrowly missed the day’s victory in the second stage, the Bernese Sunweb rider passed without major problems and defended the best young professional jersey. In the general classification, Hirschi is still third (0:07 behind). No Swiss appeared in an escape group or in the final sprint.
So it goes
Tuesday’s fourth stage (3:00 pm live on SRF Zwei) runs 160.5 kilometers from Sisteron to Orcières-Merlette. This year, a mountain finish is on the agenda very early: the climb to 1800m at the end will provide an idea of the form of the favorites in the general classification.