Tim Merlier (Soudal-Quick Step) bested Jonathan Milan (Lidl-Trek) by the narrowest of margins to win stage 3 of the Tour de France at the end of a windswept, crash-marred day of racing.
The 178.3 km trek from Valenciennes to Dunkirk came down to a bunch kick as predicted, but would-be contender Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Deceuninck) crashed out of the race at the intermediate sprint, and more riders went down in subsequent incidents. Remco Evenepoel (Soudal) hit the deck in a late crash, though he remounted and was given the same GC time as the lead group.
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