Jasper Philipsen was made to wait to start his celebrations after sprinting to victory on stage three of the Tour de France as Adam Yates retained the yellow jersey in Bayonne.
Philipsen took the win ahead of Phil Bauhaus and Caleb Ewan with Mark Cavendish, seeking a record-breaking 35th Tour stage victory, coming home in sixth, but there was a wait after the stage for the results to be confirmed as the race jury looked to see if Philipsen had impeded Wout Van Aert.
The sprint finish meant there were no major changes at the top of the general classification, with Adam Yates remaining six seconds ahead of UAE Emirates team-mate Tadej Pogacar and twin brother Simon Yates of Jayco-Alula.
On a tight, twisty finish to the stage, characterised by a string of roundabouts and a sharp hairpin two kilometres from the line, Philipsen was delivered into position by Alpecin-Deceuninck team-mate Mathieu van der Poel for the drag up to the line.
Fellow Belgian Van Aert was on his right and challenging for the win, but with a slight kink to the right before the line, the Jumbo-Visma man found himself trapped up against the barriers, sitting up to roll in fifth.
Having been declared the winner, Philipsen went down to the podium to conduct his interviews, but was then asked to wait and ultimately called into the speak to the race jury before the result was confirmed, with Philipsen having not deviated from his line.
“It was a bit of a doubt, but they make it really exciting in the end,” a relieved Philipsen said.
“It was tense but it’s the Tour de France and there are no presents. We can be really happy with the team performance. It was a great leadout with Jonas (Rickaert) and then Mathieu did a fantastic job and I’m really happy to keep it to the finish line.
“I tried to take the shortest route to the finish and I’m really happy to be first over the line.”
There had been a lengthy battle for position after Laurent Pichon, part of a two-man breakaway, was reeled in a little under 40 kilometres from the end of the 193km stage from Amorebieta-Etxano that saw the race move into France from Spain.
Cavendish was being guided by Cees Bol in the largely untested Astana-Qazaqstan lead-out train.
The Manxman was several positions back when the sprint lit up but registered the highest speed of any rider – clocked by the Tour’s data providers at 73.3 kmh – as he got himself into the mix, numbers that will fuel hope of that record becoming his outright before Paris.
“I’m happy with that,” Cavendish said. “Obviously we’d like to win but I’m happy with how the boys rode, happy with the speed. You see the teams up there, the more dialled teams, the teams that do it day-in, day-out.
“We had a plan to get me at the front there in to 2km to go, that U-turn, that’s what the boys committed to, what they did perfect. It was down to me to find the right wheels after that. I was OK, I’m happy with the speed. At 500 metres to go I was maybe 15th, so sixth…I’m quite happy.”
While the sprinters fought for position, Adam Yates enjoyed a more relaxed day in the yellow jersey with the promise of a another flat stage on Tuesday before the race dips a toe into the Pyrenees later in the week.
“It has been a nice day out there,” the Lancastrian said. “For us it’s been more about recovering as much as possible. It’s hard to have the chance to do so in the Tour de France, so we try and grab every chance we get.”
