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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Sport
John Brewin

Tour de France 2022: Dylan Groenewegen wins stage three – as it happened

France Tour (Event) Tour de France David Gaudu Fabio Jakobsen Denmark Dunkirk Groupama
Dylan Groenewegen (centre, light blue helmet) wins by a millimetre.
Dylan Groenewegen (centre, light blue helmet) wins by a millimetre. Photograph: Daniel Cole/AP

Here’s Jeremy Whittle’s report on the third stage.

Looks like, as happened yesterday, Tadej Pogacar narrowly escaped being the victim of a crash. Here’s the GC as they enter the rest day.

  • 1. Wout van Aert (Bel/Jumbo-Visma) 9hrs 01mins 17secs
  • 2. Yves Lampaert (Bel/Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl) +7secs
  • 3. Tadaj Pogacar (Slo/UAE Team Emirates) +14secs
  • 4. Mads Pedersen (Den/Trek-Segafredo) +18secs
  • 5. Mathieu van der Poel (Ned/Alpecin-Fenix) +20secs
  • 6. Jonas Vingegaard (Den/Jumbo-Visma) +22secs
  • 7. Primoz Roglic (Slo/Jumbo-Visma) +23secs
  • 8. Adam Yates (GB/Ineos Grenadiers) +30secs
  • 9. Stefan Kung (Swi/Groupama - FDJ Same time
  • 10. Tom Pidcock (GB/Ineos Grenadiers) +31secs

Here’s today’s third-stage results.

Finish profile: flat. Stage winners

  • 1. Dylan Groenewegen (NED) Team BikeExchange - Jayco 4:11:33
  • 2. Wout van Aert (BEL) Jumbo - Visma
  • 3. Jasper Philipsen (BEL) Alpecin - Deceuninck
  • 4. Peter Sagan (SVK) TotalEnergies
  • 5. Fabio Jakobsen (NED) Quick-Step - Alpha Vinyl Team
  • 6. Christophe Laporte (FRA) Jumbo - Visma
  • 7. Alberto Dainese (ITA) Team DSM
  • 8. Hugo Hofstetter (FRA) Team Arka - Samsic
  • 9. Caleb Ewan (AUS) Lotto - Soudal
  • 10. Danny van Poppel (NED) BORA - hansgrohe

Updated

Dylan Groenewegen, the third-stage victor, speaks.

It was a long way (back). I want to say thank you to my team and my family and friends for getting me back to the Tour in good shape. It’s beautiful.
Not physically but mentally it’s been a hard time of course after all that happened. This is for my wife and my son, it means a lot. Groenewegen said he had been held up in a late crash that split the peloton a little over 10km from the line, though he was in the right place when it mattered.
“Yesterday I was a little bit angry with myself but today, though I was a long time boxed in and involved in a crash with nine kilometres to go, my team brought me back into position and I stayed calm to the end.

Updated

The reasons for Dylan Groenewegen’s tears may lie in his being the other rider involved in the crash that put Fabio Jakobsen into a coma.

From last year:

Jakobsen was taken to hospital after colliding with Dylan Groenewegen and crashing into barriers during the first stage of the race in Poland last August. He spent two days in a medically induced coma and required facial surgery. Groenewegen was disqualified from the race and later received a nine-month ban over the incident.

Updated

Peter Sagan pointed to the winner Dylan Groenewegen as he crossed the line, and there are tears from the Dutchman as he is congratulated by his team.

Dylan Groenewegen wins the third stage!

Jakobsen too far back? Morkov takes the lead-out, and Laporte, Sagan and Van Aert, it’s a blanket finish and Dylan Groenewegen sneaks in, and that’s come from nowhere. Meanwhile, there’s been a crash back in the field. Time to count back the carnage. Groenewegen lunged between Van Aert, Laporte and Sagan to lunge home. Van Aert is second for a third stage in a row.

Dylan Groenewegen wins!
Dylan Groenewegen wins! Photograph: Gonzalo Fuentes/Reuters

Updated

1km to go: Caleb Ewan is sat in position, too. Laporte trying to get Jakobsen to lead him out and deliver Van Aert. Sagan’s in there.

2km to go: Jasper Philipsen, Van der Poel, Lampaerts are all up there. Geraint Thomas is also involved. They are speeding along, plenty of chances for the sprinters. Van Aert up there.

4km to go: Morkov and Jakobsen make their way up the field in tandem and look dangerous for the other contenders.

5km to go: Jakobsen is not in touch with his Quickstep team, perhaps delayed by the heavy traffic. He’s a late arriver, and has Michael Morkov, his lead-out man, for company. Van Aert and Laporte are the two remaining Jumbo-Visma riders.

7km to go: Quickstep to the fore as they make their way deep into the town. Jumbo-Visma are present and correct for Van Aert.

8km to go: Hello, there’s been a prang in the middle of the field. Rigoberto Uran seems the biggest name to be affected, and the pack speeds up and away from those who got caught out. Who’s missing? We shall soon find out. Looks like half the peloton got snarled up in the traffic problem that created.

Updated

10km to go: As they speed towards the town, and begin to position themselves for the final push it’s still calm. Bouet, who came off a while back, is up in the pack, which is a good ride from him. He’s clearly not been affected by his minor mishap and is in good form. So, who are the contenders here? Van Aert, Jakobsen, Caleb Ewan, Alexander Kristoff, Dylan Groenewegen, Mathieu van der Poel, and many more.

15km to go: Slowly we wind up to see if something, anything can happen in today’s race. Sonderborg awaits in five clicks or so and the roadside is filling up with spectators.

18km to go: Someone’s gone off the side. Maxime Bouet, the Arkéa–Samsic rider came a cropper at a traffic island. It’s a bit tight and these accidents are likely to happen. Bouet remounts with little damage done but his fate may serve as a warning to his colleagues in the peloton.

20km to go: They are going at 72kph, and that’s quite a rate, as they whip past a rather fetching Danish mansion. This is not a trip through the badlands of Denmark by any means. They are pelting along, and the danger mounts at such a speed and with seven teams trying to get their sprinters covered up while in a good position. Also, the traffic islands that seem to be feature of Danish roads look to present a potential hazard. With 20km to go, they do actually slow the pace a little. Perhaps a safety first approach is being mounted

25km to go: The pace is mounting, and time is running out for anyone thinking they can stage a breakaway dash for the finish. The manpower of the sprint teams is too heavy, too high in pace for any such brave adventurer to get away.

30km to go: It’s very much a bunched peloton at the moment, a time for planning and machinations among the teams. The road looks disturbingly narrow, and ripe for some shenanigans. Seems to be a bit of refuelling going on ahead of the final push, bottles being passed from hand to hand. There’s talk of a prevailing wind. Perhaps there may be echelons to come.

35km to go: Some beautiful coastal scenery accompanies the riders as they surge on to the city of Sonderborg, where they will spin round the town’s ring road from about 10km out. There be cobbles, and possible danger.

Sonderborg

Updated

40km to go: Perhaps this is the time we start racing. The teams are certainly bunching back up again after the detente of much of the day so far.

45km to go: They shoot along through some woodland scenery, with nobody yet to make a move as yet, and the roads narrow and they enter some more suburban territory. It’s been cagey all day beyond Cort’s antics up the front. The pace is quickening as they exit the town of Aabenraa, with the coast to their side. The Jutland waters might have caused a problem, but the wind factor seems low at the moment.

50km to go: Now, who fancies a breakaway today? It’s been an easy day so far, to be frank. That usually spells trouble on the Tour. You can never relax, and these roads are beginning to narrow. The wind is coming in from the right.

Tour de France

Updated

53km to go: Cort’s solo run is at its end, the peloton have him in their sights, and it’s getting crowded up the front of the pack. There’s a roundabout they have to pass, the type that causes problems and crashes. They negotiate it with no incident and Cort drops back into the pack with a farewell wave to the camera and some back-slapping.

Magnus Cort is in there somewhere.
Magnus Cort is in here somewhere. Photograph: Shutterstock

Updated

55km to go: Cort continues to forge on, though does seems to be easing up, his time gap easing down, too. He’s perhaps saving himself to try and compete later on in the week for those polka-dot points.

58.5km to go: Côte de Genner Strand approaches for Cort, the clean sweep of mountain points fully in his grasp, and he goes over the summit of this minor category climb. A highly successful day for him as he makes the 1.5km climb with nobody within a minute of him. He signals three fingers at the camera, and looks delighted. A great day for the Dane.

65km to go: Cort seems determined to stay away from the pack, and to claim that final mountain point. It’s been quite the effort from him. He will need that rest day tomorrow. A rest day after three days seems a bit much but such is the price of holding the opening stages hundreds of miles from France.

70km to go: After some faffing and dallying, the peloton’s speed seems to be increasing as they chase Cort down. The last hour should see them speed up even more.

The peloton is chasing down Magnus Cort.
The peloton is chasing down Magnus Cort. Photograph: Tim de Waele/Getty Images

Updated

75km to go: Cort continues to soak up the applause of the home crowd. They keep heading south to the final categorised climb, Côte de Genner Strand, which also has a mountain point attached to it. Will he get chance to complete a clean sweep?

80km to go: The speed of the peloton means we are moving along at quite a rate, and the gap to Cort is dropping to around the minute mark. His day in the sun may be coming to an end and soon enough it will be time for the breakaways, and the road management of the big teams. Seems to be a bit of feeding going on, with Van Aert back in the middle of the pack, and sat up. That’s opened the gap back up for Cort again, and he’s at the 1’ 30” mark now.

90km to go: The speed of the peloton whipped over a minute off Cort’s lead, and he leads by around two minutes as he goes under the sprint’s banner. Loud cheers at Christiansfeld, the town hosting the sprint. The pack splits in two as the lead outs begin, and Jakobsen takes it out. Sagan gets involved and Van Aert extends his lead in the green jersey competition, with Jaboksen and Laporte in there, too.

95km to go: In fact, Cort’s leadership is so large that he will freewheel through the intermediate sprint, leaving the major teams to line up their men for the minor places. There’s movement within the peloton in readiness for that.

Magnus Cort

Updated

99km to go: The time gap holds for Cort, somewhere between 3’ 30” and four minutes, and he’s soon to arrive at that next climb. He arrives at the foot of a climb just under a click in length. The crowds are again huge, even as he whips round a few hairpin bends on the outskirts on the Côte de Hejlsminde Strand, as it’s known in Français. The next climb is 40km out and with a sprint to come in between, he may not be so lonely at that point in today’s stage. He takes the point on offer with a huge grin, and he’s taken all five mountain points on offer this Tour.

110km to go: Something of an incline - uncategorised - for Cort to climb up, as the home fans cheer him on. There’s another climb to come in 10k or so, and he seems likely to take the point on offer. He’s living the Danish dream at the moment, though has accompaniment in a local speeding alongside him on an semi-electric bike, which he eventually outpaces. Which just goes to show the pace a top pro rider knocks out as a matter of course.

120km to go: Paul Griffin gets in touch: “If Cort did stay away, it would be another real blow against sporting nominative determinism.” Best not mention recently disgraced MPs either.

125km to go: Feels like going to Denmark has been a success for Le Tour, with the riders getting into the spirit of things. They may look back longingly at speeding through the flat Nordic plains when sweating buckets in the Pyrenees and Alps later in the race.

130km to go: Cort’s margin down to four minutes, the peloton speeding up on his tail. He may not make it to the next categorised climb, which is 40km or so away.

135km to go: It’s always reassuring to see ITV’s coverage and their annual competition to win a Chris Boardman bike. The peloton meanwhile is riding through open country, a plateau where a bit of wind could cause a problem but probably isn’t high enough at the moment.

140km to go: Through the Jutland streets they speed, with Cort’s advantage only marginally dropping down. It’s all set up for a bunch sprint to come later, much later.

Crowd

Updated

145km to go: Still not much movement in the pack though Cort’s lead is whittled away a little, by a minute as the peloton speeds up when taking on that fourth-category climb. It’s over 50k to the next climb. Can he stay away? Possibly, though perhaps not probably. Yves Lampaert and Wout van Aert, the two men to wear the yellow jersey so far this year, are deep in discussion under the cover of the pack.

154km to go: The first mountains points checkpoint awaits, and there’s a hell of a racket being made by the home fans. “Magnus, Magnus,” they chant. It’s so busy out there, the fans filling the roads, lanes and byways, every possible space. The crowd seems as big as those you might find on Alpe D’Huez or the Champs-Élysées. Their man has a lead approaching 6’ 30”. He speeds up the Côte de Koldingvej, the first climb of the day. This is an incredible scene, with amazing noise. A Frenchman closing in on winning Le Tour itself would struggle to be greeted with such raptures. He takes the single point on offer, and he will leave Denmark with the polka-dot jersey.

Spectators cheer as the peloton goes past.
Spectators cheer as the peloton goes past. Photograph: Marco Bertorello/AFP/Getty Images

Updated

160km to go: Cort stays away from the pack in what has been a gentle start for all but him. He’s swinging along the lanes to much applause from the locals.

170km to go: Cort’s continues to take it, up his lead at 3’ 10” and the peloton are sat up, pretty much, and letting him get on with it. All very chatty up the front of the pack, with Wout van Aert gabbing away with a teammate, on the occasion of his first day in a yellow jersey. He didn’t get the win yesterday, with Jakobsen swooping at the finish, but he did get the jersey.

178km to go: A reminder of yesterday’s drama. There’s no such thing as a safe day on the Tour de France. They are *always* going hell for leather.

Updated

And we're off!

Magnus Cort, the Dane who is wearing the polka dot jersey, sets off at one hell of a rate, and he appears determined to leave his home country and arrive in France in that shirt. Nobody else is really following him. A lap of honour, just about. He takes a lead of 40 seconds.

Magnus Cort thrills the Danish crowd as he takes a early lead.
Magnus Cort thrills the Danish crowd as he takes a early lead. Photograph: Shutterstock

Updated

Huge crowd and a sunny day in Vejle, a place football fans may know as the home of Allan Simonsen, and later on, Preben Elkjær and John Sivæbek, the latter who you may know scored the first ever goal for an Alex Ferguson-managed Manchester United team.

We’re not far from Kilometre Zero, and today’s départ. That’s afrejse in Danish. Start, incidentally, is begyndelse. So the internet tells me, and we are always happy to be corrected.

William Fotheringham wrote this excellent piece for today’s Observer, on France’s latest fading great hope.

Barring a highly improbable turn of events, 36 years of French frustration in the men’s Tour is about to become 37. Pinot is not starting the race as the leader of his Groupama-FDJ team after requesting that the role should be delegated – for the moment at least – to the young climber David Gaudu, who supported Pinot in the 2019 race.

Pinot’s reluctance to lead Groupama is understandable. His last two Tours both ended in agony, with a thigh injury putting him out in 2019 and a nasty crash in 2020’s opening stage leading to an 18-month battle to return to his best.

He spoke this past week about how the pressure of leadership has made riding the Tour increasingly onerous, notably the fear that something will happen in the opening week to destroy his chances. Pinot feels that bearing the hopes of a nation in its prime sporting event has deprived him of the pleasure he gains from simply racing his bike. Clearly, giving way to Gaudu is a relief; instead of sleeping for only six and a half hours, he can manage a full eight thanks to the reduced stress.

Preamble

Le Tour’s final day in Denmark before its return to France and Dunkirk, looks another one for the sprinters, crashes like that on the final surge yesterday permitting.

Stage 3: Sunday 3 July: Vejle-Sønderbørg, 182km

The run south down the Jutland peninsula is on less exposed roads than the day before so, assuming the wind is favourable, it should produce the first “routine” sprinters’ stage of the race, with Jakobsen – who has ousted Mark Cavendish as Quickstep’s preferred Tour sprinter – taking on the likes of Caleb Ewan and Jasper Philipsen. The following day the caravan transfers south to France.

William Fotheringham suggests the above in our pre-race preview though there must be a question over the rain, the forecast in Sønderbørg is for showers. Slippery roads mean carnage, and Tadej Pogacar, though he winked at the camera yesterday, may have counted himself lucky not to suffer anything worse. Expect Fabio Jakobsen to be involved today at the front, all being well, and the same must go for Wout van Aert, the current yellow jersey.

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