Hello cycling world!
Here's a quick reminder of how much yesterday's win meant to Mathieu van der Poel.
Before today's stage kicks off catch up with all the action from stage two, with analysis from CW contributor Stephen Puddicombe, who has broken down five talking points from the second day, including Roglič and Pogačar gaining time, Van der Poel's win, and Geraint Thomas losing a handful of seconds.
Julian Alaphilippe was probably the favourite to take a second stage win and tighten his grasp on the yellow jersey yesterday, but the French superstar slipped back as Mathieu van der Poel powered clear on the Mûr de Bretagne.
Today's stage is scheduled to start at 1.10pm start and finish between 4.24pm to 4.55pm finish (local time) .
Mathieu van der Poel will apparently be riding a Mavic neutral service bike on stage three...
We've got an update on Saturday's crash involving the spectator and Tony Martin.
Here is Geraint Thomas before the start of stage three, after the Ineos Grenadiers leader lost about 17 seconds on the Mûr de Bretagne yesterday:
The peloton are on the road for stage three of the 2021 Tour de France for the neutralised start.
Well, that didn't take too long to happen: the day's breakaway is seemingly set, with Ide Schelling of Bora-hansgrohe once again in there. He is joined by Jelle Wallays of Cofidis, AG2R Citroën's Michael Schär and the B&B Hotels pair of Cyril Barthe and Maxime Chevalier. The five have an advantage of almost three minutes with 173km lef to ride.
It's now always straightforward for the day's break to be established, but today's was a simple affair. Expect the peloton to give them a four minute time gap.
Schelling, of course, was in stage one and stage two's break, wearing the King of the Mountains jersey yesterday and today. He is now second in the classification t Mathieu van der Poel, but given that he has the same number of points - 4 - to the Dutchman, expect to see him back atop the leaderboard by the end of the day.
With 167km left to race, the break of five have an advantage of 3:14. The peloton is 2.3km further back down the road, happy to let the escapees have the limelight for a few hours.
Michael Schär is by far the most experienced rider in the break, the Swiss making his 11th appearance in the race. The 34-year-old has won two team time trials at the race with his former team BMC Racing, but never won an individual stage.
Will Cav win stage number 31 today?
The bookies fancy Caleb Ewan to win stage three, the Australian looking for his sixth Tour victory. Arnaud Démare is second favourite, with Cavendish the third-most backed.
It's Lotto-Soudal, the team of Caleb Ewan, who are on the front of the peloton and the gap between them and the break has reduced a little bit, now sitting at 2:41 with 160km to go.
Geraint Thomas has just been on Eurosport warning that the day's weather could make proceedings a little tricky. It's unlikely that the race won't end in a sprint, but the peloton have to be attentive to potential splits and avoiding crashes. We all remember stage one.
The advantage that the break have is now 2:23, 156km still left to race. The peloton don't seem comfortable yet to allow the break a margin of around four minutes.
Wet, wet, wet. It's raining out on the roads of stage three. The peloton are taking the route's roundabouts with care, not wanting to be upended by the slippery conditions. It looks grim.
The TV cameras that are broadcasting the race around the world are pockmarked with heavy rain drops. The gap between the peloton and the breakaway is 2:26, and with this wet weather don't expect it to be increase too much.
Another big crash at the front of the bunch, this time Ineos Grenadiers.
Geraint Thomas is riding back to the peloton but he doesn't look too comfortable. He doesn't seem to be sporting any injuries, but let's see what happens in the ensuing kilometres.
Thomas was very near to the front of the bunch and went to the ground after seemingly crashing into a Bahrain-Victorious rider, although TV replays aren't so clear. He is riding back into the group with three Ineos Grenadiers teammates.
Thomas is three minutes behind the peloton, and he is now alone, with just an Ineos Grenadiers car behind him for company. He is holding his ribs on his right, and it looks like he may have pain in his wrist, too.
The Welshman is being treated from the team car while riding back to the peloton. The breakaway, meanwhile, still have an advantage of 2:25, with 138km left to race.
Robert Gesink of Jumbo-Visma has abandoned the race. The Dutchman was caught up in the crash that also felled Geraint Thomas.
Gesink's abandonment will be a big blow to Jumbo-Visma. He is a trusted member of Primoż Roglič's well-oiled machine and his crash is just the latest in what has been a stressful three days for the Dutch team.
The gap between the peloton and Thomas is decreasing, with the Welshman now just two minutes in arrears. He seems to be riding well, supported by his compatriot Luke Rowe and Dylan van Baarle.
Geraint Thomas' injury is a dislocated shoulder, reports Belgian journalist Sven Spoormakers. Steven Kruijswijk was also treated by his team car, but the Jumbo-Visma man appears to be riding fine.
There are 129km remaining of today's stage and the break of five have a lead of 2:39. The group of four Ineos Grenadiers riders, that includes Geraint Thomas who crashed heavily less than 30 minutes ago, is a minute shy of the peloton. Thomas is no doubt in pain but he is riding well.
This is good news. Geraint Thomas is back in the peloton, having rode back alongside three of his Ineos Grenadiers teammates. The Welshman will now be looking to get through the stage before receiving proper treatment afterwards. It is thought that he has a dislocated shoulder, although he was also seeing hold the ribs on his left.
And, breathe. No more drama until the finish, please. The break have a lead of 2.25, 121km from the finish.
Geraint Thomas has had a quick bike change but is looking more and more comfortable on the bike.
We've had just a glimpse of classic Brittany weather so far today, as the peloton were treated to a lovely downpour mid-way through the stage, giving us this striking picture.
Let's have another look at the race situation:
We've had word from our roving reporter at the 2021 Tour Jonny Long, who is out in France now.
Mission accomplished for Ide Schelling (Bora-Hansgrohe) today. The Dutchman has sat up from the breakaway and rejoined the peloton after scooping up the mountain points.
So who is going to win today? Let us know by casting your vote in our Twitter poll
Intermediate sprint time! Cavendish is getting stuck in but it looks like Caleb Ewan has just swept up the points (after the four breakaway riders went through first).
Puncture for Julian Alaphilippe.
The Spanish broadcast of the Tour de France currently features expert analysis from David de la Cruz, team-mate to reigning Tour champion Tadej Pogačar.
Things are getting serious now - the break on the final categorised climb of the day, the Côte de Pluméliau with the peloton fast approaching behind.
With 23km to go it's slowly curtains for our breakaway out front, with just a minute's advantage
For now we still have a lot of GC teams leading the peloton as the try to protect their leaders. Geraint Thomas however is not i the long line of Ineos riders at the front of the bunch.
Here's former rider Simon Gerrans helpfully running you through the final kilometre of today's stage
As you can see there's a few sharp twists and turns as we enter the finishing town of Pontivy, but it's pretty much straight to the finish, which should mean a really fast sprint to the line
18km to go the gap is down to 35 seconds as teams prepare for the sprint. Wout van Aert is currently working for Primoz Roglic, so it's unclear if he'll try and sprint as well
Julian Alaphlippe is forced onto the grass verge as he tries to move up through the bunch, which is fanned across the road as they push on at 43kmh
Still no clear shot of Geraint Thomas in the bunch just yet, but the yellow jersey of Mathieu van der Poel is safely tucked in at the front
It would be really something if Wout van Aert was to win this sprint given his work in the last few kilometres. The current Belgian champion won two stages from sprints last year
Groupama-FDJ now moving up on the left of the bunch with 14.5km to go. Arnaud Demare will be keen to get off and running with a stage win here, having missed the Tour to ride the Giro d'Italia last year
We're down to three at the front with Maxime Chevalier dropping back to the bunch
Just time to look at today's Twitter poll with 12km to go.
Crash in the peloton - Valentin Madouas is down for Groupama-FDJ, as was Miguel Angel Lopez (Movistar), who is straight back and off on his bike
There's another crash on the right of the bunch and it's Primoz Roglic who has gone down
Roglic looks battered and bruised with tears in his clothing. He's back on his bike but he's got a big fight to catch the bunch now with 10km to go
The crash just looks to be a touch of wheels as the fight for space continues. Roglic was on the left hand side of the bunch and fell clear of most other riders. He's now being led back by two team-mates but they're 15 seconds down right now with 8.6km to go
Correction, Roglic is at 1-19 currently to the peloton
That would spell real disaster for Roglic to lose that much time so early. The Slovenian has been active in taking time bonuses in the first two stages and looked in fine form already
The Jumbo-Visma car is now trying to give a sly bit of assistance to their team, but the gap with 7.5km to go is not coming down quickly enough
There's three Jumbo riders (and a Jumbo car) helping Roglic, who is still at 1-10.
Meanwhile, the breakaway is just about to be caught with 6km to go
Breakaway caught, 5.8km to go
Roglic appears to be riding ok, but his left side looks bloodied with his shorts and jersey ripped. It's still unclear how he crashed, but only an EF rider went down with him
The Roglic group has now caught a large chasing group, which is at 51 seconds. There's only 4.3km left for them to get back though
Another big crash - several Trek riders, Bahrain riders down
It happened on a small downhill on the left of the bunch. The Bahrain rider down looks in significant pain with a Qhubeka and Groupama rider on the ground with him
The Bahrain rider looks like Jack Haig
The peloton has split with Lotto-Soudal driving on a small group along with Ineos Grenadiers
Van der Poel is still up towards the front
The yellow jersey leads the peloton into the final 2km
It doesn't look like Mark Cavendish has made the front group, but Bouhanni, Sagan, Philipsen, are all there
Alpecin-Fenix lead it out in the final kilometre
Tim Merlier wins stage three of the Tour de France
Tim Merlier backs up his Giro stage win with a win at the Tour, but that final kilometre was as chaotic as the 10km that came before it
Caleb Ewan went down and took out Peter Sagan in the final few hundred metres, allowing Merlier an easy sprint to the line to take the win
Ewan is still down on the final straight
Ewan appeared to catch the wheel of Merlier as he launched his sprint, and took Sagan down as he fell
Jasper Philipsen took second to make it a 1-2 for Alpecin-Fenix, who take their second stage in two days. Nacer Bouhanni took third.
As for the GC riders, well it looks like everyone lost some time aside from Richard Carapaz (Ineos) who was in that front group. Roglic is potentially worst off
Here's your stage top-10:
There's so much to dissect from this stage. What we do know is the Merlier is our winner and his team-mate Van der Poel holds on to yellow.
Geraint Thomas finished in a group at 26 seconds along with Tadej Pogacar and Rigoberto Uran. Nairo Quintana was among those to come off better finishing in the group at 14 seconds. But Richard Carapaz did well to avoid all delays and finishing in the front group along with Julian Alaphilippe.
It looks like Primoz Roglic lost 1-26 to the winner and Richard Carapaz, so that's a minute to his big rival Tadej Pogacar
Here's the provisional GC:
Here's footage of the finish:
Tim Declerq (Deceuninck) says riders wanted to take GC times from 8km to go, which didn't happen. The battle for the front between sprint teams and GC on the narrow road to the final kilometre made it a sketchy finale, with numerous crashes
Other GC contenders:
Our full report is up, read the details of today's stage here:
Thomas De Gendt has just told Eurosport that Caleb Ewan has broken his collarbone, so the Australian sprinter won't continue with the Tour and his dream of winning a stage in every Grand Tour this year is sadly over
Confirmation that Geraint Thomas did indeed dislocate his shoulder in that crash and will now go for scans.
According to our reporter Jonny on the ground at the Tour, Roglic's sports director has said he may have a tailbone issue.
There's no news on the status of Jack Haig yet, but the Australian was unable to finish the stage and did not look in a good way after crashing
What a chaotic day at the Tour.
Here's our key talking points from todays stage, which was tough to keep down to just five!
We've also got some reaction from team managers at the Tour, with Marc Madiot of Groupama-FDJ full of indignation of what happened today:
The latest news on Primoz Roglic is that he hasn't suffered any broken bones, but is pretty badly cut up and bruised from his crash.
Here's what Roglic has had to say:
One of the riders many people wanted to see do well today was Mark Cavendish, who was on the hunt for his 31st Tour de France stage win.
There's been so much going on after today's stage but so far we have three confirmed abandons: Robert Gesink (Jumbo-Visma), Jack Haig (Bahrain Victorious), and Caleb Ewan (Lotto-Soudal).
This is what Peter Sagan had to say after the stage. The seven-time green jersey winner was well positioned before being taken down by Caleb Ewan in the final few hundred metres.
Stage four tomorrow will be another one for the sprinters, with a slightly shorter run of 150.4km and no categorised climbs.
Everyone will be hoping for a much more peaceful day than today ahead of Wednesday's time trial.
That's it from our live coverage of stage three, be sure to check in on Cycling Weekly for the latest news ahead of the fourth day of racing tomorrow.
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