Tim Merlier (Soudal Quick-Step) won his second ever Tour De France stage, edging out rival Jonathan Milan (Lidl-Trek) in a sprint.
The Belgian won stage 4 but the narrative of the race was overshadowed by Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin Deceuninck) crashing out of the race.
The Green Jersey wearer was caught up in an incident involving Bryan Coquard (Cofidis) at the intermediate sprint, that ultimately ended Philipsen’s race.
The final sprint was equally chaotic, but Merlier kept the coolest head to time his acceleration perfectly and pip Milan on the bike throw.
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Right, let’s do a test for the sound before we begin. Although, in all honesty, I kind of want my sound to fail based on the current race situation. Either way, it’s fine. So, we’re going to get underway. [Music] Tough day. Tough day to be a watch along streamer and that is why I’ve joined the race with 63 and a half kilometers to go. We’re in the leadup to the intermediate sprint and one of the sprinters who won’t be contesting it by the looks of things is Yasper Philipsson who is chucking beadons to fans at the back of the pelaton being moved up admittedly by a teammate but doesn’t look too intrigued in going for the sprint. Yonas Recart is the rider tasked with moving him through the pelaton. Talipacha equally is at the back of the group as lead track Jacob Alula and Intermar Wanty are the three teams getting involved with the sprint in particular. Group Palmer FDJ trying to move riders up as well as Arca BMBB Hotels but the trains are quite large given the sprint is coming up fairly shortly. Luke Clap on the front for Jacob Alula in the purple kits this year and Group FDJ notable by their yellow helmets for leading the team classification after stage two which we will get into at some point. We missed the stream for stage two. Well, we missed I was at work but through the center now are coming Israel Premier Tech. Sorry, Philipsson is in the group. I forgot. Yeah, Vanderpole’s a yellow jersey. I’m still in my stage one head space. So, Vanderpole’s fine and he’s settled in nicely. Philipsson is in the green jersey and is on the wheels of Jacob Alula’s train which is going for Dylan by the looks of things for this sprint. Israel Premier Tech are moving four riders to the front. Leelle have five in the train for Jonathan Milan. Milan the sixth rider in that line. On the right hand side of the road that they’ve picked through the center is Arb and Bulls who have the whole team there including white jersey wearer Kevin Vogala but it’s Quinn Simmons at the moment leading the battle of the sprint trains. Leader Trek have a very good team for Jonathan Milan and Milan’s moved himself further up that train. He’s got a couple of riders sitting on his wheel to make sure that nobody can take the rear wheel of the Italian when he launches his sprint. So it will be Simmons handing over to handing over to Conani who will lead out his countryman Jonathan Milan. They get the first position into the roundabout. Vanderpole has moved himself up in the yellow jersey. Philipsson has not done the same in green. He is sticking to surfing the trains and surfing his teammates at points. Alison trying to get their sprint train together, but at the moment it’s into Mare Wanty on the left hand side for Binium Giamay who are moving themselves up at the right time. in the center for little Trek is doing a good job as well into Mare on down to two and GMI is freelancing from further back looking to get onto the wheel of the Little Trek train. So despite saying he had a team built around him, GMI is not using it at the moment for this intermediate sprint. But off they go into Mar sending a rider up perhaps to take points off Philips and Milan. Here comes Consani now to the front leading out Jonathan Milan who elects to go down the center and there’s a crash in the Pelaton. It looked like Yasper Philipsson went down in the green jersey. Could be wrong but that was a big incident. Jonathan Milan takes the intermediate sprint unmoved and it is the green jersey Philipsson down. It looked very bad and he indeed so his jersey is ripped to shreds. This is not good for Yasper Philipsson. And after so little action and everybody switching off, nobody crashing, the first moment at which the race speeds up, but he landed nastily and I’m afraid that that seemed to be a shoulder based injury, perhaps a broken collarbone. I don’t want to speculate now, but it looked very bad. [Music] One of the riders at the back just making his way back through the convoy and seeing a stricken green jersey on the deck was Mattis Louvel. But Philipsson has a lot of kit removed and they are testing for a collarbone. I think this could be the end of Jasper Philipsson’s race. We’ll get a replay of how it happened. Philipsson in between his teammate and Brion Cockar. Is it Cockar or is it his teammate that moves over? It’s Cockar who bumps shoulders. It was a real chain reaction incident that and Cockart is being berated by one of Philipsson’s teammates. It was the guy leading him out, Kaden Groves. But I think Brien Crocar might have some questions to answer because Philipsson is not going to continue in this race. I can guarantee. But Milan wins the sprint, takes 20 points, keeps himself away from all of the carnage behind. Vinegar was the best placed of the intermediate sprint contenders, but he was not high up at all, only taking single figure points. And Philipsson is indeed out announced by race radio now. So change of plan for Alpasinda Kerning. What do they do now? Do they go Vanderpole or Groves for the sprint? You’d think Groves would be the choice of sprinter and it is. It’s Rex and it’s Crockar that get into a a a little incident and the kind of domino effect sends Crockar but I think yeah Crockar moves into Rex. They’re going to show it again. Cockar moves into Rex. Bump of the shoulders. Cockar somehow holds it up, but in doing so flies across the road and into Yasper Philipsson’s path and Philipsson is in a sling and that is the abandonment of the Belgium. [Music] Third abandonment of the race then Filipo Dan’s gone, Stefan Bissiger’s gone and now Yasper Philipsson arguably the biggest name of those three out of the race and that is the way that to France goes. One moment where you switch off or make the wrong move that Bon Crockar did and it signifies the end of a rider’s race. And again, it’s an intermediate sprint. This is not the final sprint by any means, but [Music] riders want to be in position. Riders want to take points. And literally the first moment where the pace increases, crashes have happened. And Philipsson is the unfortunate casualty. [Music] So where do Alpas then go from here then? [Music] I wonder whether they might uh pick Groves as a backup option in the sprint. But yeah, that’s that’s not a good look for for Bon Kart and he’s gonna have to keep himself quite firmly far away from the opposing team bus. I don’t think he will be the most liked member of the Pelaton at the end of today. But once again, with an intermediate sprint, more commonly than in a sprint, you actually have lead outr riders like Rex and like Consani attempting to take points off the other sprinters. And it just means that there’s more bodies in there. And despite, you know, some of them taking it less seriously, you get more individuals wanting to get over that line as far ahead as they possibly can. And as a result, you get instances like Crockar bumping into Rex and taking out an fellow sprinter. So for example, Simony Consani took 10 points over the line for little Trek to make sure that Binium Diamai and Philipsson didn’t get any points or got fewer points. And by doing so, he’s thrown himself, you know, into the mix for a sprint. You know, that’s that’s fine in my eyes. But you weigh up that risk, I suppose. And yeah, unfortunate incident caused by Kar. Will he get a reprimand for it? I guess we’ll find out. I I’m listening to the race radio, so I will get that through. But yeah, it wasn’t it was just unfortunate. Crockar going for a gap that didn’t really exist between Milan and Rex bumps shoulders and then yeah, Philipsson sees his to finish. I don’t even think it was Rex at that point. Or no, it was. Ignore me. But there we are. And you know uh on on our feed the UK feed David Miller’s blaming Kar because he’s got no chance of going for it. Brian Kakar was third in the points classification last year. You know he’s got every right to go for that intermediate sprint. On Tis was in the group as well. Somebody like Paul Penway finished second at that intermediate sprint. Should he not be allowed to go for it because he’s not Milan or Merier or Philipsson? Because he’s not in the big three. I think that’s that’s a very unfair claim to make, but I think a very fair claim to make is that the breakaway riders or the wannabe breakaway riders who will go in the breakaway on later stages are cowards. Somebody needs to get at the front of the race and do it now because it is incredibly dull to watch. And admittedly, I have done the Bion Crockar go for the intermediate sprint by watching this. However, yeah, I’ve made a conscious decision to watch the stage. So, maybe it’s on me more than it’s on uh any rider that should be in the breakaway. But I’m thinking more about the wild card teams. The to France wants another wild card and that’s going to mean more chaos. And if the wild card team is not going to throw riders in a breakaway on a stage like this, what is the point? I think call me a traditionalist all you want and all that, but it feels like the smaller teams quote unquote are now taking themselves a lot more seriously. And because they are doing that, they are kind of losing this traditional perspective of camera time breakaways or publicity breakaways. And actually, if you’re a team like Total Energy who are losing their sponsor to Inos in the coming years, then surely you go in the breakaway because you want as much publicity of the jersey and the team as you could possibly get. so that sponsors will want to invest in the team. Now, you know, I’m I’m no expert on cycling finances or the way the Pelaton works financially, but in my eyes, a publicity breakaway is more important than seventh on a stage or, you know, 15th on GC or fifth in the points classification, you know, something like that. getting somebody in the breakaway on a stage like today, even if it’s on their own, it’s probably better if they’re on their own because they’ll gain suddenly this, you know, sense of they made the stage. at least in my eyes as this particular town have done a fantastic job with uh decorating their high street with the French flag. New angle of the crash of Philipsson. And we’ve got a Maui star rider off in the distance. A couple of riders off in a ditch as well. So maybe that was where Lou came from. So I wonder whether that was why Lou was pictured towards the back overtaking Philipsson. [Music] So that was that was a a little subplot of the sprint if you will. Hello Finley. I am doing how am I doing? That’s that’s a great question. I mean, the race isn’t providing extreme amounts of value right now. Um, so I’m kind of just trying my best to get through this, but I’ve made a commitment that I’m going to watch every possible stage I can. So, there we are. And the big news from today, I’m sure you’re watching as well, is Yasper Philipsson’s abandonment in the intermediate sprint. Now, the Pelaton are probably going to go pretty slowly as Kaden Groves is having a debrief on the sprint with the Yonas Rechar. Both of them comparing their points of view, I’m sure. Anyway, Finn, how are you doing? So, yeah, now your current points classification. DMI will lead the way following Philipsson’s abandonment. He’ll be on 63 points. Jonathan Milan will move up into second on 51 with Machu Vanderpole third on 50 and Tis will move himself one point behind Machu Vanderpole which is exactly why people like Tjis and Crockard go for it. Pen Hoy finishing second in that sprint moves himself onto 43 points and is in fifth. So yeah, I think it’s it’s harsh from our the UK commentators to say that Brien Crockar had no has no right to go for the intermediate sprint and by doing so is just causing damage to the other riders because well Krockar finished third last year in the green jersey and deserved every point that he got and a lot of his the points that he did earn came from the intermediate sprints. So yeah, it’s not fair at all to be brandishing Crockara as he shouldn’t be there. But there we are as the Pelaton go and take their musettes for the day. Good to hear you’re doing well, Finn. But it is a tremendously boring stage. It needs a breakaway, and I’ve been moaning about a breakaway for a while and the lack of it today. But yeah, um the main point of my breakaway moaning was um what is the point of a wild card team if they get their tour invite and don’t do this? And I was on about Total Energy. You know, they’ve got no sponsor whatsoever from 27 2027 onwards because it’s moving to Indios. I think there’s more publicity in going in the breakaway or you do better for your sponsors in my opinion if you go in the breakaway than if you finish seventh on a sprint that Emilon Jier is probably going to do and they’re not like mutually exclusive. So can finish seventh on the sprint with Tomashinar in the breakaway. You know what I mean? Yeah, it feels a bit like redundant though that they want intermediate sprint. Even if they do want intermediate sprint points, if Tersis wants intermediate sprint points, he could still sprint for it from the pelaton because let’s be honest, he’s not winning the intermediate sprint from the group with the likes of Milan and GMI going for it. So the gaps between him and somebody else is probably one point to say the least. And if you send a rider up the road then Jonathan Milan will get less points if anything which will put you into contention more for the the green jersey. So I don’t really understand that argument for things. I get the king of the mountains argument. I wouldn’t be surprised as well if Benjamin Tomar just peruses over the top of the climb unchallenged for the point. He won’t move into the King of the Mountains jersey because Podra still has that for winning the category three climb and that’s the sort of tiebreaker if you will between Podra and Benjamin Toma if they’re level on points. So it wouldn’t mean he goes into the Kingdom Mountains jersey. So Benjamin Tomar I get that’s fine because Brien Kar is an actual sprinter and can mix it as he proved. I think he mixed it a little bit too much by crashing one of the sprinters out but he can get in the mix with with the other sprinters. Somebody like Tjis on the other hand can’t do that. And that’s why I think Total Energy are missing a trick by not putting somebody in the breakaway today. Again, even if it was like them doing half the stage or a couple of hours up front. Yeah. I don’t know. It was a bit like Kakar went for a gap that was not there and Rex was just a unfortunate passenger. I think it was a bit of a racing incident. Like I can’t really blame either of them. The um the British commentary heavily blamed Kar which I think is unfair as riders continue to take nature breaks. We’ve seen a lot of the Swiss National Champions jersey at the back of the Pelaton. Maro Schmid, he’ll have his eye on future stages, I’m sure. Perhaps could have been up there yesterday if he was on better form. that seems to be electing to grow into this race rather than start out of the cannon like Machu Vanderpole did. But the Pelaton goes back to a slower pace, a more laidback pace, probably having a brief chat. Yeah, we’re also seeing a lot of European national the continental champs jersey at the back of Tim Merier, which is fantastic for my predictions because this is the second straight stage where I’ve got Tim Merier as my favorite. Um, I didn’t stream yesterday, so stage one and stage three I’ve got as Tim Merlin wins. Stage one was not so successful, but with Philipsson out, um, I’m feeling a little bit more confident about stage two now, or stage three, should I say. But yeah, the Pelaton has slowed down. Everybody’s They’re doing another replay now of this this incident. Rex is sprinting straight just to the side of the center road markings. Krokar kind of goes for a gap, gets slightly pushed to the side by Milan, but again, Milan’s not deviating per se, and it’s just an unfortunate incident. I think Groves gave him an earful after the the sprint. I think when he watches it back, he won’t apologize, but he might regret his actions because yeah, that was that was a racing incident more than anything else. So, it’s Luke Derridge and Jacob Alula in the center monitoring the pace with Arbell’s to their right, sparring victorious to the right of them and Muffy Star who we’ve actually seen quite a lot of at the front of the race. Enrich Mass a pick in the podcast that we recorded me and Lucas last night. Noting that Enrich Mass is still on the same time as the rest of the GC competitors who made it through both the crosswind stage and were at the front for the stage two sprint. And it’s a very reduced set of riders now. Only Matteo Jorgensson, Kevin Vala, and Enrich Mass other than the big three that finished in the top three yesterday. are within 10 seconds of much of Anderpole’s race lead. And again, we’ll get on to that slightly later because it looks like the Pelison is in no rush whatsoever. As there’s a discussion between Louis Barry and Yonas Recart about something, Ricard shakes his head and does a kind of get a load of this guy pose. Alpasin are a bit of a weird team. I don’t like the way they act on stages like this. I can see why they do it, but like the whole following Mahoric at the start was a bit weird and they try and kind of bully the pelon a bit, which I think is weird, especially given that you don’t have the best sprinter at the race in my opinion. You have Vanderpole who is probably the best allrounder at the race given world vanard’s form as of recent but discussions still being had between Alperson’s train and this time they’ve delegated it to Laurens’s Rex to discuss with the honest Ricard. This looks a far more friendly chat. lots of looking across at each other rather than Barry who kind of looked straight on and RA was was less than impressed. But Brien Krokar has elected to chat to his French counterpart Giulian Alfalipe and I wonder what his view is going to be at the end of the stage. I wonder how he’s going to act and how other riders are going to act towards him cuz I think he might be he might be a little bit under pressure from some of the heads in the Pelaton, but I think he’s got every right to go for the sprint and he’s got every right to go for the gap. It just it just closed a little bit on him thanks to Milan moving over. But again, it’s not Milan’s fault. Milan did not deviate at all. It was just a racing incident like and there’s nothing more to be said. So, at least there’s been one bit of interest of note in this stage. We’ll soon get to the king of the mountains climb and then we’ll be on to the mass sprint itself. Exactly. Every sprinter has the right to go over any sprint. Totally agree. And every lead out rider has the right to take points off other riders. I’m just kind of The reason I clown a bit on Total Energy is because I think they get it tactically wrong by not putting a guy in the breakaway to take points off other riders. But yeah, every rider’s got every right to have the front piece of road at all times. It’s just some have more talent than others to get to that point. But that doesn’t stop Cockar from going for that gap. And yeah, I mean, at the end of the day, we’re going to look back on this as a moment that was probably pretty inconsequential in the grand scheme of the tour. Yes, it finished Yasper Philipsson’s day and probably the chances of Alperson to go three for three at the start of the tour, which has not been done since 1908, I believe, that a team has won the first three stages of the tour. So, that chance at history has gone. But in the grand scheme of things, this will be one very small subplot in what is going to be a far more broadly interesting tour to France. Don’t count out Grovers is true and he’s a good sprinter on his day, but he’s this is not the terrain for him. He needs more climbs for it to be difficult for the other sprinters, the likes of Milan, the likes of Tim Merier. And if we go to ads fairly shortly on my stream, I will talk through my predictions for the stage. Thankfully, I didn’t put Yasper Phillips in. It was almost as if I knew that there was there was going to be an incident. Maybe I, you know, DM’d Crockar at the the start of this this talk, but Crockar is now chatting to teammate Damian Toss. And if there is one man that I would want backing my corner, it is Damian Tus. I think the only person more qualified to get into a fight with another rider is probably who is the who is the sprinter on Kofodist that became a boxer? I don’t remember his name. He was a Belgian. I’m going to Google this now. I’ve gone too deep into the law. So, I’m going to find out who that was. Uh, I I don’t know how I’m going to find this. It’ll be one of the old Kofidis teams from like 2019. Uh, coffee. Ziko Waitens. That was the guy who Yeah. quit quit cycling to become uh I want to say a kickboxer. Certainly some form of combat sport [Music] as Victor Trump. Just going back to the team car. Victor Componat wearing sunglasses. How dare he? [Music] That is not the Victor Compan that I know and love. I wonder whether Vizma have had a word with him and said, “For the sake of your the health of your eyes, please wear sunglasses. Either way, the teams with the predominant flat riders are still monitoring the front of the race. These are our premier tech Chris Nlands on the right hand side along with Mauiar who again are positioning themselves very well. I’d have done the exact amount they’ve needed to for Enrich Mass. Admittedly, they’ve not managed to get any others in the splits in the important splits, but if you wanted one rider to be at the front of the race at the necessary times, you’d want it to be your general classification leader. So, Maui Star have done exactly what they’ve needed to do. And it’s been a day for shots of the crowd. I’m sure the tour to France director is trying his hardest to put all of these together and make them last as long as possible. So on the UK stream right now, I am looking at Aana’s team time trial from Parise because they’re talking about the socks that they’re wearing. Now team socks from Parise talk in the tour to France probably proves how dull of a stage that this is. So, I’m going to get on to talking about my own things. Let’s get my predictions up because yeah, stage one was not a very good result for me. Jonathan Milan didn’t make it. Tim Mer didn’t make it into the first split. I delay didn’t make it into the first split either. Admittedly, all three of them did quite well in the sprint of the second group, but anyone can do well in the sprint of the second group. You need to be at the front when it matters and they were not. Milan won the sprint from the second group on the road. Delely was second and Tim was just nowhere to be seen which was my main pick. So that is three terrible predictions to start off this tour. However, very little change for today’s stage. This is my three riders to watch today. Jonathan Milan is not my favorite for the stage. However, it’s now going to be a battle, I think, between him and Tim earlier for the stage win if their teams can position them very well, which they didn’t manage to do on stage one. But Dylanovan is a man I want to throw into the mix. That is true. If Mer even tries. Mel is one of these riders where uh he just he just turns up and like, yeah, I’ll give it a go maybe. Like if I’m not there, I’m not there. You know, he’s he’s got a nonchalant aura about him. But he’s going to want to to have some revenge at least today. But Sudow Quickstep have been poor throughout this race. Either way, why have I picked Dylan in my three? Is he not washed? I think this is an important sprint for your lead out riders because it’s slightly more technical than stage one. Stage one, we saw pretty much nothing in the way of dramas or turns or important pinch points. I think the final sort of 1,400 meters were straight line, which is totally fine. You can put together a really good lead out in the same way that Alpasin did. Stage three, though, is a little bit more difficult. There is a final kilometer straight on. No turns as such necessary, but it’s very windy and it’s looking like a headwind over the the climbs and the bits that were supposed to be crosswind. So, it’s going to be beneficial, I think, to have an experienced leadout helping you towards the front. Now, Machio Vanderpole and Yonas Rickard are pretty experienced for Kaden Droves and what would have been Yasper Phillipsson had he still been in this race, but Luca Mezg for me is a very experienced lead out man. And I could have even swapped Dylan for Ano Dele and made the same argument about Yasper Deoist. I think Yasper Deoist is one of the most and has been one of the most underrated leadout riders possibly of all time. But again, that’s that’s personal opinion. I think this is a classic experienced leadout guy needed sprint and Dylan Gronovagen is an experienced sprinter to accompany the experienced leadout man. Elar Rinders is going to be in safe hands is all I’m trying to say in this sprint because he’s going to have Grenovian calling the shots and he’s going to have Luca Mesdic there as backup when things perhaps start to go ary. So I think there is no more experienced leadout than JO Alula in terms of leadout rider and sprinter combined. Kaden Groves now beating the Alpasin lead out or lead out turned sprinter now possibly means that Alpasin is slightly outdone in terms of uncool nature as Jacob Alula. But those are my predictions, my three predictions for this particular stage. Now, let’s have a chat about stage two, then because I rated it a seven out of 10 on the podcast, and I think that’s probably about right. It was a good stage, but it was a very predictable top three. Admittedly, the three bid guns, Machio Vanderpole first, Ted Podra second, Yonas Vineyard third on the stage, and Vanderpole won it in quite convincing fashion. And Talipoda managed to get out of the wheel of Vanderpole in the false flat uphill sprint to the line, but could not overtake and probably would not have been able to overtake even if the finish line was 200 m further on. Vineyard was third, gapped slightly by Pagacha. Some would say lucky to not be on a time gap, but Vineyard is going to be chuffed, I think, at taking four bonus seconds and only losing two to his main GC rival, Taliba. Gregoire in fourth on the stage for Group FJ with Junior Alfalipe in fifth. Oscar Onley good ride from the Brit on picnic pastel in sixth place yesterday with Orurelon Parontra seventh. Vortalan eighth and Velasco in ninth getting some important points remember in the battle for relegation. Oscar only getting some important points for picnic and Velasco managing to get some points for XDSA with Yenobmo in 10th who is a a bit under the radar going into this tour. has been in some good form at the Balwis Belgium tour of recent and yeah has proven that I’ve got ads which is great. So please tell me what’s going on Finley. Um because the moment we’ve cut to ads we seem to have had a crash. So I’m going to go to my live reporter Finley Helm on the ground. If we’ve got a breakaway as well then that is fantastic. I’m more interested in the breakaway than the fall to be honest with you. Oh, wellins. Oh, it’s Oh, it’s not a breakaway then. Tim Wellins is only doing that for memes. And if there’s something I hate more than a no breakaway, it’s people pretending to go in the breakaway for Digles. Unless Wellens is going for Tina of the Mountains. Wellins might be going for king of the mountains, you know, because if I get this up, Tim Wellins is in second. Perhaps he’s looking to take the jersey of Tali Podachcha. So Praacher does less media and has more time to recover because if you’re in a leader jersey, you do a lot more of the interviews after the stage and you’re generally away from where you want to be for longer. So I wonder where the Wellins is is going for the King Marks jersey. I’m about to get coverage back. So, they’re going to show the crash, I assume. I assume they’re going to replay the the incident, but Wellins is dangling, at least on my screen. I don’t know whether this is a replay or not. I think it’s a replay. Ah, yes, it is a replay of the crash. And the two riders that went down, one of them was Israel Premier Techch, I think, unless other riders have gone down as well. No, I think it was just those two. So, it was the rider from Decathlon Ajazair was Parra who finished in the top 10 yesterday and the rider from Israel was Alexe Lutenko who was also in the front group on yesterday’s stage. Both of them looked pretty fine though. It was just a general entanglement of the bikes. So yeah, I think uh I think both of them will comfortably make their way back into the Pelaton. Neither of them look too injured, but Tim Wellins is still away at the front of the race in the Belgian national champs jersey. A very nice Belgian national champs jersey, by the way. I now feel vindicated that UAE can actually make a good national champions jersey. All it needed was kickback from Belgium for them to to make a good national champions kit. Either way, Tim Wellland’s up front. 28 seconds and I’ve got something to talk about. Thankfully, I have got things to fill because Tim Wellins has 35.4 kilometers to go until the finish on my stream. Now, 35.3 35.2 and the kilometers will count down a little bit quicker now that we’ve got a rider up the road and Tip Wells is going to be fresh. I doubt he’s going to be allowed to go for it because he’s going to be tasked with keeping Teddy Poder out of trouble and through safely the stage. But a guy of Tim Wellins’s quality should not be given too much of a gap. And the Pelaton are willing to let this go out to beyond 50 seconds. We’ll see whether Tim Wellins might be allowed a little bit of a free element to go for this. Any rider that has won the national championships is going to be in good form entering this tour to France. Tim Wellins will be no exception with that UAE team Emirates helmet, which I’m not going to go into because I’m a hater of generative AI. But the yellow jersey Machu Vanderpole is nestled in a pelaton that is taking no interest in the movements of the Belgian up front who now has up to a minute 10. So what is the idea here from UAE team Emirates? Are they looking to take the Tuna Martin’s jersey off Prada? I don’t actually know what the tiebreaker is between the two. Is it GC position or is it something else? I believe it’ll be Podarcher in the jersey. We’re about to find out because UAE team Emirates are doing a team radio which says Tim if you win the King of the Mountains then you will have the jersey. So they believe that’s true. They have done the calculation and if he wins the King of the Mountains he will be in the Mountains jersey. So this is a move to the KM. So they have read the rule book. So Wellins is going for K. So that might mean the moment he gets to category four, he gives up. Or this is a double bluff from UAE Emirates to allow the palaton to give him more time. And if it is a double bluff, then that is a fantastic tactical play from the UAE team car. And it wouldn’t be out of the ordinary. I think if I was in the UAE team car, I would say that as well. This could be perhaps the team radio of the tour to France if he wins. Again, I don’t think he will win, but if he does, then people will remember the team radio. 1 minute 30 now for Tim Wellins. This is starting to get ever so slightly out of the hands of the pelaton. It’s still well and truly within the hands of the pelaton, but it’s it’s rolling towards the fingers now rather than being in the palm of the pelaton’s hands, if you will. But the likes of Louis Barry, the likes of Luke Plap, Christristen Islands as well for Israel Premier Techch, Ro Garcia Pierna of Ara B&B hotels. All of these guys will now have an item to chase up front and that item is the red, yellow, and black of Tim Wellins’s Belgian National Champions jersey. Another national champions jersey that I wish I couldn’t see on the broadcast is George Zimmerman’s German national champs jersey for the Intermar wanted team. But all the fans that have gathered on Mon Casel, the fourth category climb will get two groups to watch. First of which will be Tim Wellins who goes in between the one kilometer to go banners to the summit of the climb. And if you told me that there would be a one rider breakaway and that rider would be from UAE Emirates, I would have laughed in your face. But Tim Wellins has a minute 40 on the pelaton. and has got 31 and a half kilometers to try and hold whatever gap he has over the top of Monasel if he indeed wants to do that and more importantly if the team wants him to do that. Onto the cobbles goes Wellens. Now, the last time there was a king of the mountains on cobbles, I believe it was the same climb, but we saw Benjamin Tomat and Mateo Verse have a rather comical incident in which took out his breakaway counterpart and both of them crashed out of the breakaway. Right. 420 m to go for Wellins and the gap is approaching a minute 45 now. I don’t think the pelon will want to give him much more of a gap at all as he saw a Belgian flag with on medalat on it. I’m sure that will give him a little bit of extra verve as he goes over the top of the climb. And it is a point now famous for the incident of Benjamin Toa AO Versier. Wellins goes over the top of that and stays on his bike, looks across at the camera, gives an okay signal and I fear that that is the end. Tim Wellins is now freewheeling. He has Remco once blamed Vineyard for racing with no balls. Tim Wellins has no balls. So let’s say that Wellins has taken the jersey. I assume he has based on the regulations and you know UAE memorates being very sure. At least he’ll come away from the stage with something. I’d have liked to have seen how long he could have lasted. Would have been good if he’d done like the okay sign while pumping a massive gear so people didn’t know, you know, that people thought that he was waiting. as we’ve got a crash in the pelaton. It’s a cois rider that has gone down according to the race radio. Alexi Renard is the Kodus rider that has crashed. We’ve not seen an angle of it yet. Perhaps it will flick to the camera motorbike at the back of the pelaton. might just be a simple overlap of the wheels, but 30 km of the stage to go for Tim Wellens. He won’t be doing those 30 kilometers very quickly compared to the Pelaton. And that was right at the back, Alexi Renar, I believe, who had a little bit of trouble there. Two Dathlon Azid Desair jerseys at the back of the Pelaton as well. Bruno Army and Callum Scotson. And Tim Wellins is fairly obviously waiting here, stretching out the legs. And that’s a good day at the office for Tim Wellins, who is now in the virtual king of the mountains classification. So despite UAE making a national champions jersey good for the first time, they have decided that their Belgian national champion should not be in the Belgian national champions jersey and should actually be in the polka dot jersey. So even when they make a good national champions kit, their rider doesn’t want to be in it. But down the descents the pelaton go. And it will stretch out here down this descent. So it will be important to be positioned at the front. So as one Belgian vacates a jersey in the form of Yasper Philipsson, another Belgian will take a jersey. Tim Wellland’s taking the KM and Philipsson seeding the green jersey to at the moment Binham Jamai who is in the virtual lead of that classification. So Wellens indeed moves on to three points and ahead of Pracha on countback. So takes the virtual polka dot jersey. Benjamin Toma on two points with Vineyard on two as well. And Kevin Vulan the white jersey on one point in fifth place in the mountains classification. So Benjamin Toma when he took out Mateo Versier, it’s another Kofodus rider involved in a crash. Kofidis uh being the aggressors at this tour to France and perhaps not in the right way or the way they would have wanted. Bit weird that Benjamin Toma didn’t go with Tim Wellins because I’m sure UAE team Emirates if they wanted Podacha out of the jersey wouldn’t have minded seeding it to to Benjamin Tama but I believe based on the various rules and regulations that if Toma got the point although Wellan’s winning it and moving into the Kino Mountains jersey is now spooking me because maybe if Benjamin Toma did get the point over the top of Montasel that he would have moved into the jersey as well surely right anyway seems to have missed a trick there again it’s all about reading the rule book correctly UAE Emirates seem to have done that to a tea but now it’s making me wonder why Benjamin didn’t go for it perhaps he has a little bit too bad of a memory of the Monasel climb and just decided to race it in the Pelaton instead. If anything, he would be more trouble racing it in the Pelaton, but you know, however he feels. However he feels. [Music] But yeah, I don’t know uh exactly what the the countbacks are for the king of the mountains jersey. [Music] Either way, Tim Wellland is in it. Right, let’s talk about the general classification. because these are the other classifications going into the stage. Of course, Tim Wellins now jumps Teddy Poder in the Polka Dot jersey. Yasper Philipsson, you can now chalk that name off the list for the green jersey. So that’s 71 points now that become well that still stays 71 but will not be attributed to Yasper Philipsson. Bidium GMI will move up a position. Machio Vanderpole will do the same. But GMI entered today on 54. Match of Vanderpole entered today on 50. GMI’s open that gap slightly by going over the intermediate sprint ahead of the yellow jersey wearer. And in the white jersey, Kevin Vala leads the way 31 seconds ahead of Joe Blackmore, who’s had a very good start to his tour to France for Israel Premier Techch, the debut taunt at this race from Great Britain. And Matiasa of Little Trek is third, 39 seconds down on Vocal, who is 10 seconds down on Vanderpool. So you can just add 10 seconds to both of those guys on countback for the yellow jersey position. And here is the yellow jersey. Vanderpole is in the tour to France lead 4 seconds ahead of Ted Podra in second for UAE Maets with Honest Vineyard his GC rival two seconds further behind. And look at these three. Kevin Valam fourth, Mateo Jordansson fifth, Enrich Mass in sixth. All three of those are the only three riders now that are within 10 seconds other than the top three. And Enrich Mass has had a fantastic start to his tour to France. A rider not well known for performing on the flat roads has raced the first two stages expertly. A Mateo Jordansson has done the same, but you kind of expected that from him with his background and being a little more versatile than Enrich Mass. But Mass has had a great start to this tour to France, as has Kevin Vulcan, who was on the offensive yesterday with Matteo Jorgensson. And both of those riders had something to say about that move before today’s stage. Yasper Philipsson came into the day seventh at 31 seconds with Blackmore, Johannes, and Okconor all 41 seconds behind. So that is the GC entering the day. Of course, you can short Yasper Phillips off that now, but Matteo Jorgensson before the stage began said Tyra was pretty good today at the end of the second stage getting second on the stage. He was sprinting against Matthew Vanderpole and it’s not a guarantee that he wins on an uphill sprint like that. I think he was at a normal tadday high level. I would have loved to win the stage, that’s for sure, but I wasn’t super clear what I should have done when in that breakaway move with Kevin Vala. Our plan was for Watt Vonard, and I’m not sure if he was still there or not. So, it’s okay. It was a missed opportunity in that regard. Racing is becoming more aggressive, and it’s hopefully better for the fans to watch than a controlled sprint stage or mountain trains. I think cycling is getting a bit more dynamic in that regard. I was up at probably 185 BPM and I couldn’t hear the radio. It was slightly out of my ear. In the rain at the beginning, the tape came off and I wasn’t sure if Watt was there. In the end, I was supposed to do the lead out for him if he was there. So, I didn’t want to completely spend myself with Kevin Vula and leave him out to dry, but he was not there. Now, Vodka, on the other hand, was interviewed straight after the stage and was pretty irate with Matteo Jorgensson, but didn’t really want to say it. VA said, “I went with Matteo Jorgensson, and I don’t know why he didn’t want to take pulls with me. I don’t understand. I’m still high on adrenaline, so won’t say anything stupid, but it’s a pity. I was very strong, and if we went as two or three, then maybe we could make it to the finish together.” Why they didn’t want to, I don’t know. It was a good occasion for me and a good race, but I just saw Mike Turnison off the back of the Pelaton and Tim Wellins has been caught by the Pelaton 2. So once again, we are a big bunch heading towards Dunkerk and there is not long left to go. just over 22 kilometers to be precise left of the stage. And it’s been a stage that has not been raced very quickly at all. Just under 40 km an hour average, but that pace will rise as we head towards the finish and more and more teams want the stage win. Ted Prai having a joke with Tim Wellins, Nils Pollock being a bystander. just intrigued in the conversation as Sebastian Grineyard looks over his left shoulder and realizes that he’s got plenty of lotto riders on his wheel and one of which hands over a bottle after going to the team car to collect it. But plenty of riders still nestled in this pelaton, all of which might want a piece of the day. And for the first time, not at the back of the race is number 24 who is Tim Meria chatting away to an EF colleague. But this is the first time that we don’t see him at the back. A nice change for the Sudard Quickstep, huh? But with 22 and a half kilometers to go, it looks fairly regimented in the Pelaton. Machiovinda Kernik on the front in the yellow jersey with Chris Nland next to him. Brief exchange of words between Nand’s Vanderpole and the barring victorious train. And everybody’s in high spirits still. It is the calm before the storm, especially now with the lone breakaway rider of Tim Wellins, who will win the combativity award despite being up the road for all of 10 kilometers if that. [Music] Wellins is going to come away with a small cash prize as a result as well as small cash prize for winning the king of the mountains and taking the jersey. So I’m sure that can go towards something in the Wellen’s household. But Vanderpole on the front away from his train and perhaps Alpasindic are situated towards the rear of the palace now figuring out what they’re going to do with the remainder of of this train. Are they going to go for Caden Groves? Are they going to elect not to go for a sprint? Are they going to try and sprint for Vanderpole? I think they’re not going to try and sprint for Vanderpole based on the Dutchman’s positioning at the moment. The only other Alpacas Indic rider seemingly towards the front or middle of the pelaton was Silandier and his job for the day was not necessary at all really. He’s was designed to pull back the breakaway but with no breakaway he’s been unemployed really for the day. Sure that’s a a nice surprise for him as Tish Benot moves up on the left hand side with Yonas Vingor in the wheel and Matteo Jorgensson there as well. slight concern maybe about crosswinds just making sure that their GC rider is towards the front and it’s the first really we’ve seen a Vizma Lisa bike at the front of this race. Removal sat nicely on the wheel of Pascal Inorn and Tim Merier moves himself further up the pelaton and sits fourth wheel in the train. So both Remco Joan Napole and Tim Merier towards the front for Sudal Quickstep keeping themselves at the front when it matters. Let’s go through the rest of the quotes for the stage then quickly because I think there are no more ad breaks on my feed. So we’ll fly through these and then I will take you through the final sprint and have a brief debrief of the uh the results at the end of the stage. We’ll start with Almeida who in a long form interview with Eurosport said, “I’ve come to this year with a better approach. Last year I was a bit sick before, so I didn’t start with the right feeling. I think this year is a better start, so hopefully I can be better. I really believe Teddy Bacha is the strongest guy. But on the same hand, the Doofan was the first race after Yonas Vinodor had his crash in Paris. He went on to say that the tour is one level higher than the doofen and will be that in the race this year because of that rhythm of competition. So we can still expect a really strong Yonas. But for me, Tade is still the favorite. I’m not saying that because I’m his teammate. I’m saying that is because what I feel. I come here not as leader. I want to do my best for TAD. I can do a really good job. I can make a difference on this team and I’m excited to do this job and to do my best. This season I have had good success in one week races. The next goal for my career though is having a grand tour in my pocket. It’s a super hard task with Tad in the tour. It’s hard to have leader role because he is super strong and better than I am. Maybe I need to pick another grand tour as a result. But it’s a pleasure to be here and I’m really excited to do this tour. So perhaps Al made a bullish about a Jurro ditalia attempt next year or the year after even could be an idea for him. Somebody else who has won a tour, a grand tour and a tour to France, Guy Thomas, who at the end of yesterday’s stage said it was a really tough stage. You had the rain at the start which added a bit of stress, but luckily it stopped pretty soon after. We got dry roads and the wind wasn’t quite as much as we expected either. So that was quite nice. It made it a little less stressful at the midway point. From 50 to 70 kilometers to go, there was fighting and stressing, but that’s normal, isn’t it? It’s the tour. But we rode well. We were always where we wanted to be going into the climbs. We were in decent position for the last three climbs. Axelance was there, but his leg sort of went on the second climb. It was the exact same with me. I was hanging in there, but I felt every one of my 39 years. They aren’t quite my forte anymore. I was so close to staying in there, but I got spat out maybe 100 meters from the top. I knew Carlos Rodriguez was not far behind, so I waited for him and tried to help as much as I could for Carlos to limit his losses. So, we’ll go through quotes from Yasper Phillips and Machio Vanderpole and Gishian Nearman before the finish, which is 18.5 kilometers away. So, I’ve kind of got to get through them pretty quickly at this point. But with no breakaway and the Pelaton probably continuing to go at this pace as one of the Intermar riders heads out of the back of the Pelaton with a rear wheel puncture by the looks of things. Forward comes the Intermar wanted team car as a result to help out their rider. And the cameras are on Jonathan Milan who needs a good sprint today to resurrect his green jersey hopes. was I rate yesterday at BMGI did apologize for his actions but full of adrenaline is the big man Jonathan Milan and it was VTO Bright with the rear wheel puncture the intermar jersey that was out the back that was a good spot from the helicopter cam from me not to blow my own trumpet or So with that lull happening and Veto Bright surely making his way back to the pelaton he will be a key lead out rider for not Yasper Philipsson BMI a key rider for Yasper Philipsson would have been Macho Vanderpole who obviously took the win yesterday and he said at the end of yesterday’s stage it was super difficult the final was actually harder than I thought I was really motivated it’s been four years since I won my first stage at the tour for France. So, it was about time I finally won a second one. Of course, people put me as favorite, but if you see which riders were in front on the climbs, I think a I did a really good job today to be there. They predicted a headwind on the climbs, so I thought Yasper Philipsson would have a chance at the stage, but the climbs were harder than I expected. It was a really hard pace as well. You saw on the second to last climb there were already maybe eight guys on the top. So it was a really hard and nervous day again. The first two days were a dream for the team. Everything else that comes now is a bonus. It wasn’t easy at all. It’s also the second time that I’m rewarded with the yellow jersey immediately. So it was well worth the wait for a stage win. I think I did a good job. The team told me to study the last 500 meters. So, I watched it a few times in the team bus beforehand. He went on to say that they had a video of the finish line and I knew what I wanted to do if it came down to a sprint, but if you see who the guys in second and third were today, that says enough about how hard the stage was. I didn’t dare to raise my hands before the finish line like Peter Zigan did at the same stage finish. But, it’s an incredible moment again. Let’s hope I can wear the yellow jersey for a few days, maybe until the time trial. There it will be very difficult to keep it, but just winning a stage again was the objective for me and I’m very happy to have achieved it. I’m really happy that I was up there with Tatty Podacher and Yonas Vindigar. I also didn’t screw it at the end because you never know what could happen. At the first stage of the Dofane, they both beat me in a sprint, so I wasn’t sure that I would win. And I’m really happy that I have one. I did everything perfectly and it has been a while since the last one. So Vanderpole took his second win at a tour to France, which is pretty crazy to say, I guess, in terms of a rider of his quality, but he’s never really brought that quality to the tour to France. He’s kind of peaked for the classics and as a result he’s not bought the best Vanderpole possible to the tour to France. But based on yesterday’s stage, it looks like we’re seeing a prime Vanderpole like we saw when he took his last stage win in 2021 at the top of Murder Bratannia. So, a four-year gap between stage wins, but as he said, it was well worth the wait. His teammate now out of the race, Yasper Philipsson, said that Macho Vanderpole was incredibly strong and I felt a bit less from yesterday. It was a super hard day in the end, but I’m so glad Macho could take the win on stage two. It’s the second one in a row for our team. I think everybody got a lot of confidence from yesterday. We took control. The guys worked really hard and it wasn’t easy at all. With a strong leader like Machio, it makes the work for the guys much easier and he was incredible today. Tomorrow is going to be a flat day with a bunch sprint probably. The day after it will be another day for him. I think he takes the yellow jersey as well. Indeed he did. So I am really happy that we could keep it in the team and it’s a really nice day for us again. It’s not a really nice day for Yasper Philipsson who is now out of this race getting involved in a collision with Lawren’s Rex and Brian Croar at the intermediate sprint and likely having a collarbone injury because he was in a sling was the now green jersey who will seed that at the end of the stage to whoever finishes highest in the green jersey classification. At the moment looks like it’s going to be binium gmai but might not be come the end of the stage depending on what like the likes of Jonathan Milan have to say. One more person who had a brief bit to say was Gisha Neman at the end of stage two and he said I think today UAE team Emirates did really well. They were still there with I think four guys in the final and that was impressive. On a day like yesterday, I believe that our team is stronger than UAE, but we’re also the two best teams in the tour with the two best riders at the race. That is not a hot take from Gisha man. But what is getting hotter is the pace in the pelaton. The yellow jersey of Machio Vanderpole is on the left hand side of the road. Third wheel in the Alpasinda kerning train but Gisha man’s Vizma riders have got five names towards the front and I don’t think any of them Oh no, ignore me. Yonas Vinodar is sat second wheel in the red helmet. I was looking for the red helmet but you could only see white. I think it was the camera angle, but go that second wheel. A couple of riders going out of the back of the Pelaton. One of them I think has a mechanical problem. The other one is an arca jersey taking a nature break which is a bold decision with 13.7 kilometers of the day remaining. But Tim Merier is nestled in the palaton nicely in a sudal quickstep train which is headed by Pascalorn. Removal is sat second wheel followed by Matia Catano then Bert Van Lurburgger and then Tim Meria. So that might just be their train for the sprint finish. Maybe Remco gets involved setting up his teammate to be in best possible position for the sprint. Tim not brilliantly positioned at the end of stage one, but is going to be positioned well by the looks of things. He’s certainly towards the front of a reduced pelon now as the day comes towards a close. And I think with more riders having more energy, not having to chase down a breakaway and going at around 35 to 40 kilometers an hour throughout the day, there is going to be more chaos in the sprint. We’ve not had crosswinds. Teams haven’t been pushing it. Not even the threat of crosswinds in which teams just fight with each other purely for position and not to force echelons. So the pelaton will be more chaotic I think ahead of the stage finish into Dunkirk as we look at Nils Plet on the front for UAE Emmeritates keeping Parcha out of trouble. He’s got the future king of the mountains jersey wearer Tim Wellins on his wheel who took the only point of the day over Monasel and the Pelaton are all bunched together once more. It is very calm still with 12.2 2 kilometers remaining in the day, but it will get more frenetic. That is for sure. Israel Premier Tech in the center. Five riders in their train for Pascal Akiman or Jake Stewart. Another chance to see which of those riders will be the designated sprinter for that team. Because of the crosswinds on stage one, we didn’t see those teams that have brought multiple sprinters to the race like Israel pick which one they prefer. You’d think it would be Akaman. Even though perhaps Stuart might be considered the faster rider, Akaman is the bigger name and perhaps commands more respect in the team as a result based on previous results in his career. But DSM, I’ve said DSM again. I am going to get out of that eventually. Picnic pastel have two sprinters as well. The murmurings were that Pavl Bitner is their preferred option with Tobias Lund Anderson a capable second option if Bitner gets involved in any troubles. But once again, we didn’t get to see that on stage one. So, have plans changed or are they going to stick to the original idea? That was an important roundabout and a roundabout that Alpasa Indic have lost. Going round on the left hand side when you wanted to be on the right. The winners of that are the likes of Little Trek into Mare Wanty UAE team Emirates as well. So it’s going to have to be a big turn from the now reduced Alpasin trainy however have devoted their whole team to binium JMI and are starting to form a line on the right hand side of the road. Veto Bright working his way up after his rear wheel mechanical and slots himself into the train. It’s a very big train. in a train of six riders to be precise. [Music] No Louis mine here. So no GC hopeful for intermaranti. They might be looking at stages in the future with Louis Barry and George Zimmerman, but right now all of their resources will be allocated to the erat train sprinter binium who is currently the virtual green jersey. And we’re having an increase in pace. And with that will come an increase in tension in the pelaton going underneath the 10 kilometer to go banner. And the increase in pace is being forced by Remco even at the front of the pelaton for Sudal Quickstep. So Remco is forcing the tempo now. He will hand over to Matia Cado who will then give Bert Van Luria the keys to position Tim Meria. Those two have got a great relationship from Lurburgger and Mera and have proved it pretty much sweeping anything in front of them. That is a sprint so far this season. Mer has been off the charts. Two stage wins at the Bwars Belgium Tour. Remember wins at the Brussels Classic and Shelderric both of the first two stages at Parise and two stages at the UAE tour as well as two more at the Alula Tour. He’s basically won pretty much every sprint he’s participated in, bar a couple, most notably at Gan Vivham where he finished in second place behind Mads Person. But Merier has been prolific as anything this season and if he gets the right lead out, he might just be unstoppable. One man that can definitely stop him though given the right conditions is Jonathan Milan as Remco Nepal is barking orders to Matia Cattono to get across to the right hand side of the road taking the role of road captain is the Olympic champion and Cato controlling the pace with 8.3 remaining in the stage wanting to keep Removal out of trouble. trouble and that means that Van Lura and Tim Merier have said I don’t fancy that to be honest with you. I’d rather be a little bit further back protected from the wind a bit more. It might mean you were more at risk of a crash and being caught up in one, but that is the decision they’re going for. and Malia and Van Lurberger like to leave it late and so do the Alperson train who are going to be a little bit inhibited by the withdrawal of Yak Yasper Philipsson. 7.7 to go and the tempo is definitely increasing. The Pelaton getting strung out more and more as we get closer to the finish line in Dunkirk. Now is the time to work out who the Israel Premier Tech Sprinter is. Jake Stewart’s nicely positioned in that train. So, it might be Stewart that they’re going for today. Akaman didn’t look too great on stage one, so it could be Jake Stewart’s opportunity to prove himself in a sprint. Very good sprinter and one of the riders that has beaten Jonathan Milan for raw pace this season so far. Again, Mer and Milan, the two main names for the stage, barring Yasper Philipsson, who is now of course out of the race. Milan has been successful this season as well winning at the UAE tour. Two stages there, two stages at Toreno Adriatico, one stage at the criterium dorphine as well. So is very good and pushes Watts that probably the rest of the Pelaton can’t. [Music] It’s down to his little Trek team to position him, however, and they’ve got some very good engines to do that. Thomas, Tibo, Nace, Yasper, Stoven, Edward Toyins, Simony Consani, his lead out man, but they have been washed away slightly. Was controlling the front and he still sits in a good position, but it is not right at the front in the same way that Sudal Quickstep were. And Aana are now on the right hand side. They’ve got a fourman train headed by Jenny Federov. as Israel Premier Techch gain another rider in their train. Akaman trying to sit on the wheel of Jake Stewart. So they could be going for Akaman instead. Stewart’s there if it gets very messy. And it is Nylons on the front for Israel Premier Techch who makes sure he gets in front of the XDSA lead out putting them in a commanding position. as we have just over 5 kilometers to go until the Pelaton arrives in Dunkerk. And from now onwards, from when they go under the 5 kilometers to go banner, which is very shortly, the GC contenders will be safe. Little bit of wiggling around the road led by the Quickstep team. And now officially the GC contenders are safe. They are past the sprint zone. Any crash people will be given the same time as the group that they were in. We saw that with Ben O Connor’s incident with Marion Vandenberg on stage one. But forward now come Red Bull, Bora, and Hansra. The first we’ve seen of them towards the front. And Tim Mer emerges again with Bert Van Lurburgger. He’s picked the wheel of Remco Nepole. And another new team, Picnic Posel. We’ve seen them at the intermediate sprint. They’ve come towards the front once more. Right hand side of the road. Will it be Bitner or Lunanderson for them? Lunanderson being reported with a move away. Bitner staying at the team for the foreseeable future. So they may have had their decision made for them, but they’ve been washed out once more by XDSA and this time Lotto who’ come to the front. It’s important not to be at the front too early with very little in the way of road furniture ahead of the sprint as there’s 3.8 to go now. Tom Schro moves up on the left hand side in the Latvian national champions jersey of little trek and lotto move a couple more riders towards the front. Jared Drizzner’s is there. Arno Deise at third wheel. Yasper de Boyist will move up as time goes on. I’m sure of that. And Drew Palmer FDJ have three riders on the left hand side as well. Barring victorious through the center. Their sprinter has been dislodged ever so slightly and their sprint train is all over the road. Sprint trains fighting for position and the team that are best together at the moment is Lotto with Arno Dele Tobias Lund Anderson looks to be picnic pastel sprinter and we go to the rear of the palaton and the narrowing has caused a crash. Can’t see who’s down at the moment but everybody’s slowing up and there was a rider on the floor there. Hopefully they’re all right. Either way, they will be given the same time as the leaders because they were within the 5 kilometer sprint zone. And here’s a replay of what went on. Oh, touch of wheels. And it’s Red Bull Bora Hansra that have two riders go down. And that was at a very high pace as well. Remco has an arm on his back. So, he has been involved in the incident. Vasov’s waiting up. Priml Rodlich looked to be getting back on his bike there. didn’t look too cut up, but there was an incident there and riders are on the deck. And that looks to be the end of the tour for one of the Red Bull Boro hands screw guys, but the race will continue mercilessly at the front. It’s SPS against Israel Premier Techch. It’s the Kazaks against Israel and Kazakhstan might be winning it on the left hand side of the road going under two kilometers to go. Remco Napole and Primos Rodlich having a debrief of the crash. Rodlich actually might have kept it up. Ava Depool looks a little bit worse for wear. Little bit of road rash on the left hand side. But back to the front of the race and it’s XDS controlling left hand side. You have Genny Federov moves up and that’s an extra man for them. Little Trek have slotted themselves onto the wheel of the Kazak outfit. Down the inside around the final corner I believe with 1.6 6 kilometers to go come group armor FDJ who are going to be sprinting for Paul Penway. He was second at the intermediate sprint. A statement of intent perhaps from the Frenchman with 1.4 kilometers to go now and Sudal Quickstep are at the front. Picnic Post now still have three riders in the group. The little Trek moving up left hand side now. They’ve got three riders. Simony Sony will be leading out Jonathan Milan. Milan, the winner of the intermediate sprint and his counterpart Tim Merier is nowhere to be seen in the European Champions jersey. He’s got Bert Van Lur to lead him out. They do like to arrive late towards the finish line, but they are leaving it especially late in this case. Jacob Alula in the purple jerseys also trying to move up, but here comes Merier. He’s not got Bert Van Lurberger for company, but he’s doing it himself. Battling for the wheel of Jonathan Milan with Pascal Akerman. So it’s Merlin and Akiman battling for Milan wheel as Lotto move up on the right hand side but Arnold Dele is nowhere to be seen and Picnic Posel take advantage of that moving up on the left for Pavl Bitner and Picnic Posenel are in control of the sprint at the moment they are going to wait to launch Jonathan Milan those sat third wheel and there’s a big crash left hand side of the road riders go down Milan through the center picnic pastel left hand side but Milan goes over the top Merier arriving late Mer Merier against Milan. Merier through the center. Who will just about get there and win the stage in the European Champions jersey? Tim Merier wins stage three of the Tour to France in a chaotic day that perhaps will be remembered for a couple of crashes late on. Everybody will be given the same time as Tim Meria because we were within 5 kilometers to go. But that was a big sprint from the Belgian who gets around Jonathan Milan. Milan pushed incredible watts and it was a massive incident. One of the total energy riders went thundering into the barriers on the side of the road. Hopefully he’s all right. But Merier comes out of Milan’s wheel, gets around the Italian, and it’s on the bike throw. Milan has a longer sprint. And actually, Milan might have just got there. He threw the bike early. But Meria sticks the arm up and I think they’ve given the win to Meria. Kar went down very hard as well. I think if that is the Kofodis jersey that I am looking at. Elsewhere, Arno Dele also went down in the crash, but he was nowhere to be seen for the sprint. Merier launched off the back of the picnic post in a lead out. Certain var was arriving on the right hand side with Phil Bow House as well tucked in nicely. He’s always up there or thereabouts on the sprints. A good positioner for Bahrain victorious and I think he gets third on the stage with Vardin fourth. We’ll check up on the results at the end of the day. Groves was the elected sprinter for Alpasinda Kernik finishing in the top 10 but not troubling the front. And it is Merlier by about a tire’s length ahead of Jonathan Milan. Phil Bhouse third, S and Visual fourth. And a good result for Picnic Postel who once again pick up more points in their battle to avoid relegation with Pavl Bitner. And actually Milan went ever so slightly early. Malia was slightly late with his bike throw, but did enough in the sprint itself to make it to the line in first. And through come the rest of the Pelaton. Yonas Vindigar is actually in that second group. Doesn’t look like he’s got any damage from any sort of crash. So Vindidor looks okay. We’re looking for riders who are not looking too brilliant. One of those is from Group Armor FDJ and that is quite clearly a broken bike. I think that’s Paul Penway who is just going to walk over the line for group armor FDA. Remarapole might be important to assess his left hand side and Xia sustano have weighted up as well. So their whole team could not deliver any sort of result today but somebody who could was Tim Mer the European champion takes his first stage at the tour to France I believe. Is that Mer’s first win at the tour? Could be. that this is a site group FDJ’s rider. I’m still trying to work out who that is. I I do think it’s Penway sauntering across the line with his bike in hand. Will he be jumped on the line by Kofidis’s Benjamin? Yes, he will. But the winner of the stage is Tim Mer. Let’s have a look at the results. This is going to be spoilers for anybody. [Music] Stage three. Tim Meria wins the stage ahead of Jonathan Milan in second. Phil Bowhouse third. Seren Valley in fourth for no expility. Another good result for him and perhaps might be going for green jersey because the points are falling in his favor. Pavl Bitner P5, Bin Gay sixth. And I’m not sure what that does for his green jersey hopes. Kane Groves in seventh, Alpacasinder Kernik’s new sprinter now that Yasper Philipsson has crashed out of the race with Danny Van Pppel in eighth, Pascal Akaman ninth and Amari Capio of Ara B&B Hotels rounding out the top 10. Dese 11th for Chuda Lund Anderson 12th. Tron 13th, Dylan, my outsider pick for the stage 14th. Not a great result from him. Stewart 15th and Damian twos in 16th. So it wasn’t Tis the total energy rider that cannoned into the barriers at pretty high speed, but Milan loses it on the bike throw and Tim Meria wins it on the bike throw. That was a pretty good sprint. Not a fascinating stage by any means overall, but I certainly enjoyed the sprint at the end, and it is going to be one that may linger on with Brian Cotar under investigation, I’m sure, by probably most of the Alpasin Djouring team for what he did at the intermediate sprint. However, I don’t think much will come of that. However, keep an eye on Remuaven Napole and other riders that were involved in that incident at the narrowing inside the final 5 kilometers. They will all be fine for time, but how will they look in terms of potential injuries? Of course, you’re wishing the best for all of them, but there may be instances where riders may have a little bit of road rash tonight, not sleep too well ahead of stage four. Stage four [Music] is another hill stage into Ruan. Another chance perhaps for Macho Vanderpole to increase his lead in the King of the M king Mountains jersey in the yellow jersey going from Amir to Rub and lots of climbs in the final and it is going to be a very nobly stage. My pick for that day based on what I did at the uh Tour of France preview podcast that I did with Lucas. Let me remind myself of who I picked. I had Teddy Podracha winning this. And it does look a little more selective than stage two. So I will see you all there for that. A interesting stage certainly coming up on stage 4. Today was interesting but for different reasons. And I think I will call the stream there. It has been a fun hour and a half. We’ve had no breakaway, but we have had vibes, and that is the main thing. Uh, will I raid anyone? Probably not, because I always forget to do it. Um, but yeah, hope you’ve all enjoyed being here, whether you’ve been lurking or chatting like me and Finn have throughout the stage. It’s certainly been fun in my regard. and I’ll be back tomorrow getting all of the juicy quotes and various bits and pieces. I’m sure Albertson Darnic representatives will have a lot to say. Brien Kakar will want to argue his side as well and we will get quotes I’m sure from Tim Meria the stage winner and the yellow jersey Machu Vanderpole who will hold it for another day. But for now, I will see you ahead of the next stream. Have a great rest of your day.