The 2025 Tour de France continued Monday with stage 3 – and race organizer A.S.O. invited the riders to a 178.3-kilometer ride in flat terrain from Valenciennes to Dunkerque. The stage would only feature one minor climb, so the stage profile appealed to the pure sprinters in this year’s Tour de France peloton and the stage was expected to conclude in a battle royale between the pure sprinters in the streets of Dunkerque.

The start list of Tour de France 2025 included World Champion Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates), Jonas Vingegaard (Team Visma-Lease a Bike), Remco Evenepoel (Soudal-QuickStep), Primoz Roglic (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe), Florian Lipowitz (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe), Joao Almeida (UAE Team Emirates), Mattias Skjelmose (Team Lidl-Trek), Enric Mas (Movistar), Geraint Thomas (Ineos-Grenadiers), Tim Merlier (Soudal-QuickStep), Jonathan Milan (Lidl-Trek), Wout van Aert (Visma-Lease a Bike), Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Deceuninck), and Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck).

Stage 3 of the 2025 Tour de France started at a slow pace in the streets of Valenciennes in northwestern France. The weather conditions were again rainy, and the riders were exposed to cool temperatures between sixteen and eighteen degrees Celsius. It stopped raining after a few kilometers. Surprisingly, no riders had shown interest in attacking after twenty kilometers of calm riding.

With the relaxed racing tempo of stage 3, perhaps some of the riders in the peloton were using the opportunity to discuss recent statements from Jonas Vingegaard’s wife and manager Trine Marie Vingegaard, who was quoted by Danish newspaper Politiken and dr.dk as having said “Knowing Jonas, I would say that (Team Visma-Lease a Bike) is squeezing the lemon too much now. I am afraid that he (Jonas) is burning his candle at both ends. There is so much travel activity. He is a guy who needs a little more peace and quiet and a little more opportunity to recharge.”

The statement comes at a very unfortunate time when the Visma-Lease a Bike is focusing on achieving top results in the Tour de France and such statements will likely cause internal frustration within the team, cost valuable energy, and possibly reignite the latent battle between the team’s Belgian-focused Wout van Aert fraction and the GC-focused Vingegaard fraction. Mette Marie’s role as manager for Jonas is making many insiders wonder. Perhaps the Danish family is unaware of the common expression: Never mix business and pleasure.

Vingegaard suffered a serious and life-threatening crash on his bike in the spring of 2024 and psychologist Annette Olsen is speculating if the crash has possibly caused his wife to develop anxiety that hasn’t been treated sufficiently, which is causing her to act in an overprotecting manner, because the untreated trauma is reactivated every time Vingegaard is racing and she is afraid of losing her husband and father of their children. Vingegaard has prepared very well for the Tour, has achieved impressive results this season, and is now even closer to the performance level of Tadej Pogacar, so it would be a shame if his own wife’s statements would end up compromising his chances of achieving great success sin this year’s Tour de France.

Stage 3 continued along the windy roads of northwestern France and the riders were wearing long-sleeved jackets, as the sky was overcast and the temperatures were low. No riders had launched attacks when 150 kilometers remained and perhaps riders had chosen to save their energy for other stages, knowing stage 3 would very likely be decided in a mass sprint across the finish line in Dunkerque. The peloton was spearheaded by riders from Alpecin-Deceuninck and Mathieu van der Poel was looking stunning in his completely yellow racing outfit and riding his yellow Canyon CFR bike.

The riders passed Fort de Seclin, which is part of the Sere de Rivieres fortification system that France constructed following its defeat in the Franco-Prussian War. The fort now serves as a museum as it was never modernized to match the artillery technology improvements of the 19th century. The cyclists in the Tour peloton still had more than one hundred kilometers left of stage 3, but there was still no sign of any battles between the riders.

75 kilometers of stage 3 remained, and several teams were pulling in the front part of the peloton on the wide roads. Riders from Bahrain-Victorious, Picnic-PostNL, Visma-Lease a Bike, and Arkea B & B Hotels were visible. The peloton was approaching the intermediate sprint of the stage, and the sprinter aces were eager to secure points for the points competition - especially since no breakaway riders would grab the maximum points ahead of them in today’s stage.

Riders from Intermarche-Wanty were leading Biniam Girmay as the peloton approached the intermediate sprint in Isbergues. Lidl-Trek launched its sprint train and Jonathan Milan pressed forward. Jasper Philipsen crashed when he hit Bryan Coquard (Team Cofidis) in the intense sprint, and the Alpecin-Deceuninck rider appeared to have fractured his collarbone. His jersey was torn to shreds and most of the skin on his back was visible. Philipsen was wearing the points jersey in today’s stage but was now forced to abandon the Tour. Jonathan Milan won the intermediate sprint and secured twenty points. Paul Penhoet took seventeen points, while Kaden Groves banked fifteen points.

Tim Wellens of UAE Team Emirates attacked from the peloton with 38 kilometers left of the stage. No other rider appeared interested in joining the Belgian rider and it turned out he was on a mission to earn points for the best climber classification further up the road. This would make him lead the best climber classification, which would save teammate Tadej Pogacar valuable energy, because he would not have to spend time on the podium after the stage.

Einer Rubio (Movistar Team), Aurelien Paret-Peintre (Decathlon-AG2R) and Alexey Lutsenko crashed in the rear part of the peloton – often the most dangerous place to be positioned.

The riders were approaching Mont Cassel, which is a Category 4 climb. Tim Wellens was first to reach the summit of the climb. He took the mountain points and teammate and GC favorite Pogacar would be spared a trip on the podium after the stage. Team Visma-Lease a Bike had been sleeping and should obviously have sent riders up the road with Wellens to prevent the UAE Team from completing its mission.

Tim Wellens was caught by the peloton approximately 26 kilometers from the finish line in Dunkerque. Mission accomplished.

The peloton was racing fast and with a broad front when twelve kilometers remained. The sprinter teams were eager to control the race while initiating their build-ups for a sprint royale across the finish line, though Jasper Philipsen would sadly be absent following his serious crash earlier in the stage. GC riders including Remco Evenepoel (Soudal-QuickStep), Vingegaard and Pogacar were also attentively close to the front to reduce the risk of time losses that could occur in case of crashes.

Four kilometers remained and the speed in the peloton was intense. Lotto-Caps riders were leading the line. Jayco-Alula riders joined the front with Uno-X Mobility competitors. A big crash occurred when a TotalEnergies rider went down in the mid-part of the peloton with three kilometers left. The crash also brought down Geraint Thomas and Jordi Meeus.

Up front the fighting was fierce, and several teams were launching their sprint trains to ignite their main sprinters.

Lidl-Trek accelerated. Jonathan Milan was on their wheel. Tim Wellens was also present. Picnic-PostNL riders were in front. A crash occurred again.

Jonathan Milan and Tim Merlier sprinted towards the finish line and Merlier proved the fastest man in the stage when he crossed the finish line as winner of stage 3 ahead of Jonathan Milan and Phil Bauhaus.

“It was a really hard battle, and it was difficult to get in position as the racing was hectic,” stage winner Merlier told Roadcycling.com shortly after the stage. “I think I lost some meters and had to fight my way back to the front, so today I could take my second stage victory in the Tour de France. I had to use a lot of energy to get in position and stay there. I came to the Tour to win a stage and I have now achieved my goal,” Merlier added.

Mathieu van der Poel remains leader of the general classification and will wear the yellow jersey in tomorrow’s stage 4. Pogacar is four seconds behind the Dutch rider, while Vingegaard is third with a six second deficit.

Tuesday’s stage 4 of Tour de France 2025 will invite the remaining riders in the Tour peloton to a battle in hilly terrain on a 174.2-kilometer route from Amiens to Rouen, where Joan of Arc was burned at the stake on May 30, 1431, after being tried and falsely convicted of jersey by an English-dominated tribunal. Her death was a significant event in the Hundred Years War and the Tour de France will use the opportunity to battle for a victory in a stage 4, which is expected to be dominated by a long breakaway.

Stay tuned to Roadcycling.com for complete coverage from the 2025 Tour de France.