Tour de France 2025: Merlier Cashes In, Van der Poel Stays in Yellow

foto: Cor VosTim Merlier sprints to victory in the streets of Dunkirk. He beats Jonathan Milan at the end of a crash-marred stage, while Mathieu van der Poel retains the yellow jersey. (Slideshow route/profile)

Results 3rd stage 2025 Tour de France

1. Tim Merlier (bel)
2. Jonathan Milan (ita) s.t.
3. Phil Bauhaus (ger) s.t.
4. Søren Wærenskjold (nor) s.t.
5. Pavel Bittner (cze) s.t.
6. Biniam Girmay (eri) s.t.
7. Kaden Groves (aus) s.t.
8. Danny van Poppel (nld) s.t.
9. Pascal Ackermann (ger) s.t.
10. Amaury Capiot (fra) s.t.

GC after stage 3
1. Mathieu van der Poel (nld)
2. Tadej Pogacar (slo) + 0.04
3. Jonas Vingegaard (den) + 0.06
4. Kévin Vauquelin (fra) + 0.10
5. Matteo Jorgenson (usa) s.t.
6. Enric Mas (spa) s.t.
7. Joe Blackmore (gbr) + 0.41
8. Tobias Halland Johannessen (nor) s.t.
9. Ben O’Connor (aus) s.t.
10. Neilson Powless (usa) + 0.49

Race report
Jonas Rickaert and Matej Mohoric ride slightly ahead of the peloton in the early part of the stage, but soon ease off and wait to be caught. Rickaert repeats the trick, this time with Maximilian Schachmann, and that’s it in terms of action.

The pace picks up in the second half of the race, but no breakaway forms. It remains a tame affair, but that changes abruptly when green jersey Jasper Philipsen hits the tarmac hard in the intermediate sprint. It immediately spells the end of his Tour.

In the run-up to the day’s only climb, Tim Wellens attacks from the peloton. No one lifts a finger to stop him, and he rides not only into the polka-dot jersey, but also builds a lead of nearly 2 minutes. As the gap was more or less handed to him, he chooses not to push on and sits up to wait for the peloton after picking up 1 KOM point.

Jordi Meeus sees his hopes of victory vanish in a crash as the race enters Dunkirk. The ensuing sprint is overshadowed by another crash before Tim Merlier and Jonathan Milan go shoulder to shoulder to the line. Merlier narrowly comes out on top in a nail-biting sprint finish.

Another interesting read: route 3rd stage 2025 Tour de France.