Jasper Philipsen sprints to stage three win as Adam Yates remains in yellow

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 in to 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 to anybody. 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.”