Summary

  • Stage three: Lorient - Pontivy, 182.9km

  • Mathieu van der Poel wears the leader's yellow jersey

  • Defending champion Tadej Pogacar is third & Geraint Thomas is 20th overall

  • Britain's Mark Cavendish looks to add to his 30 stage wins at the Tour

  • Eddy Merckx holds the record for the most stage wins with 34

Live Reporting

Steve Sutcliffe

  1. Goodbye

    Anyway that's me done for today. As far as I am aware Caleb Ewan and Jack Haig have not yet finished the stage, which means they could both be out of the race.

    You can read more in our report on stage three here.

    I will see you all tomorrow when the race travels 150.4km from Redon to Fougeres.

  2. What is the 3km rule?

    I could quote you the rulebook but in short...

    If a rider suffers a mechanical or crashes in the final 3,000 metres of a stage then they are awarded the same time as the group they were with at the time of the incident.

  3. No crash for Cav

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  4. It was like a 'war zone'

    Just heard Tadej Pogacar compare the finale to that stage with a "war zone".

    The defending champion reckons that a 5km rule might help alleviate some of those problems. At the moment there is a 3km rule which deals with late crashes.

    No good for anyone who was delayed by that crash with just under 4km to go.

  5. Wout van Aert and Richard Carapaz both moved up 15 places on the GC standings.

  6. General classification standings

    General classification standings after stage three.

    1. Mathieu van der Poel (Ned/Alpecin-Fenix) 12hrs 58mins 53secs

    2. Julian Alaphilippe (Fra/Deceuninck-Quick-Step) +8 secs

    3. Richard Carapaz (Ecu/Ineos Grenadiers) +31secs

    4. Wout van Aert (Bel/Jumbo Visma) Same time

    5. Wilco Kelderman (Ned/Bora-Hansgrohe) +38secs

    6. Tadej Pogacar (Slo/UAE-Team Emirates) +39secs

    7. Enric Mas (Spa/Movistar) +40secs

    8. Nairo Quintana (Col/Arkea Samsic) Same time

    9. Pierre Latour (Fra/TotalEnergies) +45secs

    10. Sergio Higuita (Col/EF Education-Nippo) +52secs

  7. Another crazy stage. That's three on the spin.

    I just hope Caleb Ewan is okay. The Australian fell with some force and was being attended to by medical staff the last I saw.

  8. All change in GC

    Mathieu van der Poel retains the leader's yellow jersey, while Julian Alaphillipe holds on to second spt.

    But after that there are a raft of changes in the GC standings.

    Richard Carapaz moves up to third, Wout van Aert goes fourth and Wilco Kelderman holds fifth spot.

    Tadej Pogacar drops to sixth and Primoz Roglic is down in 20th. Wow

    Geraint Thomas is up a couple of spots to 18th, one minute and seven seconds down.

    Not as bad an outcome as it could have been for the Welshman by any stretch.

  9. Stage three results

    Stage three results:

    1. Tim Merlier (Bel/Alpecin-Fenix) 4hrs 28mins 01secs

    2. Jasper Philipsen (Bel/Alpecin-Fenix) Same time

    3. Nacer Bouhanni (Fra/Arkea Samsic)

    4. Davide Ballerini (Ita/Deceuninck-Quick-Step)

    5. Sonny Colbrelli (Ita/Bahrain Victorious)

    6. Julian Alaphilippe (Fra/Deceuninck-Quick-Step)

    7. Mathieu van der Poel (Ned/Alpecin-Fenix)

    8. Cees Bol (Ned/DSM)

    9. Anthony Turgis (Fra/TotalEnergies)

    10. Max Walscheid (Ger/Qhubeka NextHash)

  10. Thomas arrives with Pogacar

    It may take some time to decipher everything that's just gone down. As soon as I know more I'll let you know.

    The good news is that Geraint Thomas definitely was in the Tadej Pogacar group to finish 26 seconds down on Tim Merlier.

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  11. Mark Cavendish has just trundled over the finish. Looks like those earlier reports may have had some merit.

  12. I was basically thinking I'd be able to copy and paste the GC standings from stage two into here.

    No chance now. Got a feeling that Mathieu van der Poel has stretched his lead. Beyond that I have no idea at all.

  13. I may be wrong but I think I saw Geraint Thomas coming home in the group with Tadej Pogacar.

    Just waiting for confirmation.

  14. Peter Sagan and Caleb Ewan crashGetty Images

    That was like a destruction derby. Peter Sagan amazingly held on to his handlebars throughout that crash before flipping his bike up.

  15. Merlier wins stage three

    Tim MerlierGetty Images

    Tim Merlier wins stage three.

  16. Caleb Ewan is down taking Peter Sagan with him. Heavy fall.

  17. Cees Bol and Sonny Colbrelli are hovering.

    Peter Sagan fancies this...

  18. Here we go. Prepare for blast off.

  19. Arnuard Demare was in that crash.

  20. Whoaaaaa. Another crash involving half a dozen riders or so.

    There are about 20 riders up front and then gaps left, right and centre.