A tense and highly contested sprint finish in Bayonne was won by Belgium’s Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Deceuninck) ahead of Germany’s Phil Bauhaus (Bahrain-Victorious) and Australia’s Caleb Ewan (Lotto Dstny).
But it seemed like an eternity for the result to be confirmed after the race jury studied replays to decide whether Philipsen had veered off his line and boxed out his compatriot Wout van Aert (Jumbo Visma) on the curved home straight in Stage 3.
Ad Philipsen was taken out of the winner’s enclosure and into the jury headquarters for a few minutes – only to emerge with a smile on his face signalling the confirmation of the third Tour stage win of the 25-year-old's career.
Tour de France'There are no presents' — Philipsen reacts to Stage 3 victoryAN HOUR AGO The debate surrounded an apparent deviation on the home straight, which caused Van Aert to ease up by the barriers and drop to fifth place behind Dutchman Fabio Jakobsen (Soudal-QuickStep).