Belgian Jasper Philipsen earned his third career Tour de France stage win, taking Monday’s third stage in a bunched sprint.
Philipsen held off Wout van Aert and then outleaned Phil Bauhaus and Caleb Ewan for the victory in Bayonne.
It took more than 15 minutes for the result to be made official. Philipsen was close to cutting off van Aert against side barriers, but was deemed to not have impeded his countryman.
“It was a bit of a doubt, but they made it really exciting in the end,” Philipsen said. “It was tense, but it’s the Tour de France. There are no presents.”
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Van Aert ended up fifth, behind Fabio Jakobsen.
Mark Cavendish, in his first real chance to break his tie with Eddy Merckx for career Tour de France stage wins, was sixth.
Cavendish, a 38-year-old from the Isle of Man, remains on 34 Tour stage wins. This is his final Tour before retirement, and he is targeting sprint stages, the next of which is Tuesday.
Philipsen, a 25-year-old who rides for Alpecin–Deceuninck, was a distant second in last year’s sprinter standings to van Aert. Van Aert has said he is not targeting the sprinter title this year, making Philipsen an early favorite for the green jersey.
The overall top five standings went unchanged with Brit Adam Yates in the yellow jersey.
Fireworks at the finish on the first Tour de France sprint stage!#TDF2023 📺: Peacock pic.twitter.com/zGhJ4XqFAR
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