DISCUSSION Tour de France Stage 3 | Is anyone to blame for Philipsen's crash? One of the worst stages in recent Tour de France history?

Stage 3 of the Tour de France was quite an uneventful day at first with no breakaway on the day; and then it became perhaps excessively eventful. The day, won by Tim Merlier in a head-to-head sprint against Jonathan Milan, was marked by the crashes of Jasper Philipsen, Remco Evenepoel, Jordi Meeus and more.

Jasper Philipsen was forced to abandon the race, suffering a fractured collarbone and rib following a fall in the intermediate sprint after a touch of wheels between Laurenz Rex and Bryan Coquard.

Inside the final 5 kilometers there was a fall involving Jordi Meeus who was badly hurt - with Remco Evenepoel involved as well; and then already in the final sprint another crash affected riders such as Coquard, Emilien Jeannière and Arnaud De Lie.

A day with very little to offer, but well... This is the Tour de France. It offers exposure to millions of viewers around the world and I would've expected at least one or two teams to commit to forming a breakaway and trying their luck. Most teams in this Tour will not win a stage, most have small chances of winning any stage, and some literally benefit massively from having riders show off the team's jersey for hours in the breakaway. Hence, even taking into consideration the late headwind, I was in disbelief that no-one tried to even go for it - except for Matej Mohoric, but that was a move after it became clear no-one was going to try anything serious.

I also partly blame this on the organizers, who insist on keeping the 3rd and 4th category climbs to only 1 or 2 points. It is such a laughable amount that being in a breakaway today would see no-one except for Benjamin Thomas to potentially take over the jersey, even though we've not had a single mountain yet and it was day 3 of the race. There is little incentive given, and there is a large contingent of riders and teams saving their legs to the days where dozens of riders will then have the same plan as them, instead of trying their luck.

So a boring day of racing when it comes to competition terms, as as some of my colleagues pointed out, this means that everyone arrived at the key moments fresh and the speeds were even higher. Then we reach the intermediate sprint, where Philipsen crashes and has to abandon the race. I would say no-one was to blame, it was a race incident, but if anyone was to eventually be blamed it'd be Laurenz Rex.

Then another crash with Jordi Meeus which looked quite bad, a result of a road narrowing and the high tension in the peloton. Then yet another crash in the finale, one that had been predicted by social media taking into consideration how many bends there were... It wasn't full-on technical, but you simply cannot put finales like this at the Tour with so many bends in the final kilometers, specially at the end of a pan-flat day where you know the speeds will be crazy high.

Well, this was an awful stage. I've been saying this for a while but these pure flat stages are the absolutely worse thing the Tour can do. First, there's no spectacle or even attempt to go into a breakaway during the day because there's nothing to gain from it. Which means the peloton doesn't really have to push hard, can conserve a lot of energy and then the madness on the sprints was a matter of time. Everyone is still very fresh and without wins which means tensions are at their peak. Result? Contact everywhere, everyone pushes each other and we get 3 massive crashes with serious impact on the outcome of the race. The organizers seriously need to review this sort of transition stages.

So today was one of those days when you can clean your house, cut grass, go shopping... and then come back to watch the last three kilometers without missing a beat. The only notable event of today's stage was the crash and abandon of big favourite for green jersey Jasper Philipsen. At least he's been able to win a stage and live his yellow dream within the first two days. That sees us arrive to the much desired bunch sprint. Team Picnic PostNL were the team with best sprint preparation by far, but they were faced with a reality check when Pavel Bittner (nothing against the rider) found out that he's nowhere near the great sprinters such as Merlier and Milan who flied past at double his speed.

In the end, the European champion Merlier played his cards the best in the headwind to beat Milan with a marginal advantage. Race organizers once again "one-upped" themselves with the wildest imaginable exhibition of road furniture, roundabouts, narrow lanes and whatnot. Then the conclusion with two major crashes was inevitable and we can only hope that all riders escaped serious injuries. The writing is on the wall, but we must once again ask; Is it worth having races arrive in the center of big cities at all cost - putting revenue and fans' comfort over rider safety?  

My opinion of today is proportional to what the peloton offered me over four hours. Very short. Short from the start, very ugly crashes by Jasper Philipsen, Merlier beating Milan to the photo finish. Is this what ASO has to offer cycling fans?

No one won the combative award today. That summarizes the kind of stage we saw. Nothing noteworthy occurred during 99% of the race, just crashes and a bunch sprint at the end, not even an attempt of a breakaway. It’s sad to see riders being forced to abandon due to ugly crashes, but it is even sadder when you think that some crashes are avoidable. Yes, cycling can be a dangerous sport, and riders fight for every inch of space like it’s the last one they’ll get, but sometimes race organizers don’t make things any easier.

Still, I was disappointed not to see any breakaway being formed today. I know the terrain was not the most favourable one to see a break succeed, but some sponsors appreciate their riders getting some TV time. Considering how wild things have been in the peloton during these first three days, it’s fair to say some riders would have gladly swapped places to be in the breakaway, a much safer position, if only to avoid yet another crash.

One of the worst stages in recent Tour de France history. Apart from Tim Wellens' adventure to take the mountains point and Tim Merlier's photo finish victory over Jonathan Milan, the only thing that happened was misfortune. Jasper Philipsen was forced to abandon after a hard crash in the intermediate sprint, which seems to have resulted in a broken collarbone. Remco Evenepoel also crashed in the final kilometers and in the final sprint several riders fell, especially one who crashed hard into the billboard.

There was not even a breakaway. After the first two intense stages, this one could have been expected to be calmer, but I don't think anyone would have imagined that there would be no breakaway. We all know how tense the Tour de France is, especially in the first week, and this edition is no exception, quite the contrary.