Underdogs continue to rule the day at the Tour de France as Biniam Girmay (Intermarché-Wanty) sliced through a tightly crowded bunch of sprinters to take the win on stage 3, the first bunch finish of the 2024 edition. EF Education-EasyPost’s Richard Carapaz is the new race leader. The Ecuadoran was in fourth place entering the stage, but his 14th-place finish saw him jump three spots to the yellow jersey on count back placings.
After a crash in the middle third of the pack disrupted the field at 2.5 km to go, Girmay’s team took control into the final kilometer, with the Eritrean slotted patiently behind Arnaud De Lie (Lotto Dstny) before making a move along the barriers to surge past Lidl-Trek’s Mads Pedersen for the win. Fernando Gaviria (Movistar) nipped De Lie for second with a bike throw on the line.
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How it happened
- After two relentless and hard days of racing, the pack called a truce for much of the flat third stage, which was widely expected to end in a sprint. No breakaways were even attempted until Fabien Grellier (TotalEnergies) went clear solo in the latter third of the stage and was comfortably re-caught with 28 km to go. The only other hostilities of note were Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe’s Matteo Sobrero jumping out of the pack to take a single point atop the first climb ahead of KOM leade Jonas Abrahamsen (Uno-X Mobility).
- The pace picked up significantly in the final 50 km as the pack kept Grellier close. There were several flats and mostly minor crashes inside the final 15 km, none more consequential to the finish than World Champion Mathieu van der Poel’s mechanical with less than 6 km to go took him out of the leadout situation for Alpecin-Deceuninck teammate Jasper Philipsen. On a more serious note, Soudal-Quick Step’s Casper Pedersen is the second abandon of the race after finishing the stage with a broken collarbone suffered in a late crash. Astana’s Michele Gazzoli abandoned on stage 1.
- Stage 3 marked the first trial of the UCI’s safety rule expanding the 3 km envelope to 5 km. A more significant crash with 2.5 km to go saw Israel-Premier Tech’s Stephen Williams, among others, hit the deck, and promptly split the field. Mark Cavendish was reportedly caught behind, but did not go down. Philipsen was also caught in the chaos.
- With the Alpecin-Deceuninck team largely out of the sprint, it fell to Lotto Dstny and then Intermarché to drive the front. Pedersen opened his sprint perhaps a bit early, and a fearless Girmay jumped off De Lie’s wheel to come around just before the door closed against the barriers to take a historic win. The 24-year-old Girmay was overcome with emotion in his brief TV interview, wiping away a tear as the magnitude of his feat – the first Black African stage winner at the Tour – sunk in.
I never dreamed to be part of the Tour, and now I cannot believe it to win.
-Biniam Girmay
Brief analysis
- All eyes were on Philipsen and Astana Qazaqstan’s Mark Cavendish today, with Cav even showing up with some aero tricks to try to give him even the tiniest advantage. But neither team really factored in the sprint. Alpecin’s plans were disrupted by Van der Poel’s flat, and Astana hovered near the front but after losing Cav behind the crash at 2.5 km to go the team’s best finisher was Davide Ballerini in 8th.
- It was more encouraging for Fabio Jakobsen, who struggled so hard through stages 1 and 2. His DSM Firmenich-PostNL team, riding the high of Romain Bardet’s stage 1 win, was organized and confident in the final, and while his 7th place wasn’t a breakthrough, it’s far better already than he went in the Giro d’Italia, where he was simply a non-factor. Movistar’s Gaviria got second after (finally) not jumping too soon.
- There are a lot of happy faces at this year’s Tour so far, as the first three stages have all gone to unexpected or less-expected winners. But perhaps no group will be more overjoyed than the Eritrean diaspora in Europe, especially the fans who follow Girmay to almost every race he does, waving the country’s red, green, and blue flag, and singing and cheering for him.
- Pogačar is likely happy to cede yellow – and the responsibility for controlling the race that comes with it – ahead of Tuesday’s crucial mountain stage. The move frees him and his UAE Team Emirates crew to create a tactical plan aimed purely at their objective, which is testing two-time defending champion Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike).
Up next
It’s back to France and back to the climbing for stage 4 as the Tour has its earliest-ever major mountain stage. It’s relatively short at 139.6 km, but features 3,900 meters of elevation gain, including a trip to the top of the 2,627-meter Col du Galibier before a descent to the finish in Valloire.
Further reading
- Aero aero aero: neither rider was a major factor in today’s finish, but Decathlon-AG2R la Mondiale’s Sam Bennett and Astana Qazaqstan’s Mark Cavendish are going all-in on aero as they chase stage wins. Ronan Mc Laughlin looks at each sprinter’s setup.
- Speaking of advantages, much of the brouhaha over Visma-Lease a Bike’s control van missed that teams have been using similar techniques for years. Jonny Long reports from on the ground.
- Stage 3 was a momentary truce in the GC battle, but it will be back to battle on stage 4. Will anyone challenge the Pogačar-Vingegaard duopoly?
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