Tour de France LIVE: Stage 3 result as Dylan Groenewegen wins photo finish after crash
The Tour de France resumes with its final Danish leg, a 182km ride down the mainland coastline finishing in the town of Sonderborg
Dylan Groenewegen won stage three of the Tour de France in a four-way photo finish in Sondeborg, Denmark.
Groenewegen narrowly beat yellow jersey wearer Wout van Aert, Jasper Philipsen and Peter Sagan in a dramatic finish to the 182km stage from Vejle as the Danish Grand Depart came to a dramatic end. Groenewegen rode the wheels and came around first Sagan and then Van Aert to claim his fifth career Tour stage win and first since 2019.
After Fabio Jakobsen claimed an emotional stage victory on Saturday to complete his comeback from the life-threatening injuries he suffered at the Tour of Poland in 2020, Sunday was the turn of the rider he collided with two years ago.
Groenewegen did not face the physical recovery Jakobsen did from that incident, but had spoken of the mental scars after he faced death threats and abuse in its wake - with the Dutchman also handed a nine-month ban by world governing body the UCI.
“It was a long way (back),” Groenewegen said. “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,” he added.
Follow the latest updates from stage 3 of the 2022 Tour de France below.
Report from stage 3
Report after Dylan Groenewegen’s dramatic victory:
Dylan Groenewegen edges photo finish to win stage 3 after late crash
Wout van Aert will stay in yellow when the Tour heads to France next week
Emotional Dylan Groenewegen revels in victory
After Fabio Jakobsen claimed an emotional stage victory on Saturday to complete his comeback from the life-threatening injuries he suffered at the Tour of Poland in 2020, Sunday was the turn of the rider he collided with two years ago.
Groenewegen did not face the physical recovery Jakobsen did from that incident, but had spoken of the mental scars after he faced death threats and abuse in its wake - with the Dutchman also handed a nine-month ban by world governing body the UCI.
“It was a long way (back),” Groenewegen said. “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,” he added.
Stage 3 result: Dylan Groenewegen wins sprint finish
“I’ve no idea what happened behind, Geraint Thomas says, chatting to Eurosport on his warm-down bike about the crash which saw so many lose time and pushed plenty of Ineos riders up the standings. “We just tried to stay as far forwards as possible, we had the boys to do that for us.”
Top 10 general classification
Wout van Aert will stay in yellow when the Tour heads to France next week. Here’s the top 10 after three stages:
- Van Aert (Jumbo-Visma) 9hr 1min 17sec
- Lampaert (QuickStep) +7 sec
- Pogacar (UAE Emirates) +14
- Pedersen (Trek-Seg) +18
- Van der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck) +20
- Vingegaard (Jumbo-Visma) +22
- Roglic (Jumbo-Visma) +23
- Yates (Ineos) +30
- Kung (FDJ) +30
- Pidcock (Ineos) +31
Standings shake-up after late crash
Filippo Ganna, Baule Mollema and Dylan Teuns all got caught in that crash and have fallen outside the top 10, after losing around 40 seconds.
Other notable names caught up include Rigoberto Uran, Chris Froome and Thibaut Pinot.
Stage 3 result: Dylan Groenewegen wins sprint finish
Wout van Aert has now finished second in every stage of this Tour so far, which must be a little frustrating. He has the not so small consolation of keeping the yellow jersey, though, and he will wear it when the Tour touches down in France on Tuesday.
Stage 3 result: Dylan Groenewegen wins sprint finish
Dylan Groenewegen of course had served a nine-month ban after the infamous crash with yesterday’s winner Fabio Jakobsen, and that will feel like a great relief, three years after his last stage win. He looks very emotional as he speaks:
“I want to say thank you to my team, family and friends for bringing me back to the Tour in great shape. Mentally it was a hard time after all that happened. This is for my wife and my son.”
Stage 3 result: Dylan Groenewegen wins sprint finish
Credit must go to Groenewegen’s teammate Christophe Laporte for leading him right into that final showdown. The Dutch sprinter did the rest.
- Dylan Groenewegen
- Wout van Aert
- Jasper Philipsen
- Peter Sagan
- Christophe Laporte
Stage 3 result: Dylan Groenewegen wins sprint finish
Sagan got squeezed out at the finish as the yellow jersey of Van Aert drifed towards the barriers. Groenwegen came right through the middle to win it, while Jakobsen was nowhere to be seen – he never got in position to challenge there.
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