That these guys riding the 2025 Tour de France are a different breed altogether is proven by the nature of the job they do. This is none more in evidence than when they slam onto an asphalt road at high speed, and then try to get back on their bike again.
Jasper Philipsen had already experienced the highs of the Tour de France 2025, winning the first stage and wearing the coveted maillot jaune throughout Stage Two.
Would he trade that in to still be in the race now? Well, that’d be one for him to answer.
Chances are, however, he wouldn’t. The yellow jersey means as much to a cyclist as an Olympic gold medal does to a marathon runner, very often a once-in-a-lifetime honor. The fact that Philipsen had to abandon after a crash today does not automatically mean he will consider this a bad Tour de France.
Having said that, a sprinter who had the chance to win more stages in this year’s Le Tour will perhaps reflect on his priorities. Philipsen hit the tarmac hard while contesting an interim sprint, 60 kilometers short of the Dunkerque finish to today’s Stage Three.
Was it necessary to go all out, as he did, when he was hotly tipped to regain the leader’s yellow jersey half an hour later? These lesser interim sprints are essential to riders aiming to collect points towards the green jersey, but may not be top priority for sprinters who want to win full stages.
The two are not mutually exclusive, granted, and Philipsen is not the first rider ever to abandon a Tour de France while wearing green; rather, the seventh. Then in 1993, Mario Cippolini was disqualified, similarly adorned in the same colour.
With Philipsen now gone, his Apelcin-Deceuninck team is short of its top sprinter, who team bosses were hoping would continue their dream start to the 2025 Tour de France. Naturally, they do boast other talent, for instance, 26-year-old Australian Kaden Groves, meaning that their race is far from run.
The flat stage today, from Valenciennes to Dunkerque, was another chance for sprinters to shine, although it won’t have given total satisfaction to the eventual winner to pick up the win while Philipsen lies, presumably, receiving ongoing medical attention somewhere.
The entire peloton (main group of cyclists) was together towards the end of the stage, with safety the main priority for Pogačar and Vingegaard. This meant that they had no interest in crossing the line first in Dunkerque, the famous town on the English Channel.
While the very best riders can bunch sprint, if called upon to, they never do so. The risks it involves, as Philipsen reminded fans today, mean that they have no interest in winning stages that have no impact on their overall standing.
It was left, therefore, to the bravest to battle it out and a further crash, not by any means unusual within a few kilometers of a stage finish, left another two guys down. They weren’t badly hurt, and according to race rules will have their finishing time awarded based on the group they were in at the time they fell.
An effort by Belgian Tim Merlier meant that the Soudal Quick-Step team’s logos will spend far more time on TV tonight, perhaps why they pay such generous money for these guys to risk their limbs to cross the line first.
The overall classification was unchanged, Mathieu van der Poel retained the maillot jaune. He sits few seconds ahead of the riders most likely to take it from him, when tomorrow sees them riding a hillier stage to Rouen.
Earlier in the day, Belgian champion Tim Wellens, breaking from the bunch, scaled a lesser peak towards the end of the stage. In doing so, he accumulated enough points to collect the polka dot jersey. This is awarded to the rider who scores the most from climbs throughout the whole race.
It is rare for the elite riders to win this classification as they tend to target the mammoth climbs and don’t get involved with contesting the numerous lesser ascents dotted around the whole route.
Wellens is almost certainly not going to win the entire Tour de France 2025, but ending it as King of the Mountains will be seen as a significant victory in its own right. He took the first step towards that today, although the peloton soon reeled him in, and therefore, a stage win was out of the question. Not that he’ll mind that.
I have followed many Tours de France and loved most of them. Pro-cycling is not for everybody, like darts, I guess, but when you get inside it a bit, get to know what it’s all about, it’s hard to look away.
Even missing the days of Indurain and Riis, Pantani, and their contemporaries doesn’t make getting into the 2025 event harder in any way.
From where I sit now, this is shaping up to be a classic.
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