The first clash of the sprinters at the Tour de France 2024 ends with a surprise. Biniam Girmay (Intermarche-Wanty) takes his first stage win at the Tour of France. The man from Eritrea relegated Fernando Gaviria (Movistar) and Arnaud De Lie (Lotto-Dstny) to second and third place after 230.8 kilometres between Piacenza and Turin. The best German was Phil Bauhaus (Bahrain-Victorious) in sixth place, Pascal Ackermann (Israel-Premier Tech) finished 15th.
Tour de France 2024: Richard Carapaz takes over the yellow jersey from Tadej Pogacar
The yellow jersey changed hands. Richard Carapaz (EF Education EasyPost) took the lead in the overall standings. The Ecuadorian is level on time with Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates), but after 14th place on stage 3 he has the lower total of stage placings compared to the Slovenian.
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Emotional winner interview by Biniam Girmay
The winner Girmay wrestled with tears at the finish. "I can't believe it. Winning a stage in the Tour de France is incredible. I would like to thank my family, my wife, all the Eritreans and Africans. We can be proud. Now we have really arrived at the big races. This is our moment," said the 24-year-old in the official winner's interview.
It is Girmay's 14th professional victory. To date, the man from Asmara had won Ghent-Wevelgem 2022 and a stage at the Giro d'Italia in the same year, among others, after which he shot a Prosecco cork into his eye. In the run-up to the Tour de France this year, Girmay finished second at the Rund um Köln and celebrated two victories at the Surf Coast Classic in January and the Circuit Franco-Belge. However, only a few experts thought he would beat the world's elite sprint specialists at the Tour de France.
I've known Biniam since 2021 and he's always good for a surprise - Georg Zimmermann
And even his team-mate Georg Zimmermann was a little perplexed. "Biniam is an outstanding racer, but he's actually a bit more of a sprinter on more difficult sprints and routes. So it's a bit of a surprise for us as well. But I've known Biniam since 2021 and he's always good for a surprise. So it's only half a surprise, I would say," explained the man from Augsburg at sportschau.de.
Tour de France 2024 - Results: the top 10 of stage 3
- Biniam Girmay (Intermarche-Wanty) 5:26:48
- Fernando Gaviria (Movistar) +0:00
- Arnaud De Lie (Lotto-Dstny) +0:00
- Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek) +0:00
- Dylan Groenewegen (Team Jayco-AlUla) +0:00
- Phil Bauhaus (Bahrain-Victorious) +0:00
- Fabio Jakobsen (Team dsm-firmenich PostNL) +0:00
- Davide Ballerini (Astana Qazaqstan Team) +0:00
- Sam Bennett (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale) +0:00
- Bryan Coquard (Cofidis) +0:00
The current standings in the overall standings
- Richard Carapaz (EF Education EasyPost) 15:20:18
- Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates) +0:00
- Remco Evenepoel (Soudal - Quick Step) +0:00
- Jonas Vingegaard (Visma | Lease a Bike) +0:00
- Romain Bardet (Team dsm-firmenich PostNL) +0:06
- Pello Bilbao (Bahrain-Victorious) +0:21
- Guillaume Martin (Cofidis) +0:21
- Egan Bernal (Ineos Grenadiers) +0:21
- Jai Hindley (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) +0:21
- Aleksandr Vlasov (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) +0:21
How the 3rd stage of the Tour de France 2024 went
A breakaway group was sought in vain on the third day of the Tour de France 2024. The chances of a stage win were too slim. The highlights along the way were the mountain classifications and the intermediate sprint. On the Cote de Tortone (4th category), Jonas Abrahamsen (Uno-X Mobility) scored the only point and extended his lead in this special classification. At the intermediate sprint, 136.5 kilometres before the finish, Abrahamsen, who continues to lead in this special classification, scored nine more points. The 20 points for first place went to Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek).
Matteo Sobrero (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) crossed the second mountain classification on the Cote de Barbaresco (4th category) in first place. There were still around 75 kilometres to go. Around ten kilometres later, there was at least some movement in the race. Fabien Grelilier (TotalEnergies) attacked out of the peloton and broke away as a soloist.
However, the Frenchman did not get far away on stage 3 of the Tour de France 2024. The sprinter teams allowed Grellier a maximum of around a minute, who at least secured the one point on the Cote de Sommariva Perno (4th category). His escape attempt came to an end 28 kilometres before the finish.
Breakdown stops van der Poel
The peloton rolled in unison towards Turin. A crash by Casper Pedersen (Soudal - Quick Step) 13 kilometres before the finish caused some unrest. Bruno Armirail (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale) also crashed shortly afterwards when he suffered a front wheel defect. Just a few moments later, Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck), the most important man for Jasper Philipsen in the sprint final, suffered a puncture.
2.5 kilometres before the finish, there was a major crash on the right-hand side of the road on a straight stretch, which threw the sprinters' trains into disarray. Around 30 riders, led by Intermarche-Wanty, went into the final kilometre together. The eventual winner Girmay was still hidden in tenth position, while two of his team-mates at the front prepared everything. With 350 metres to go, Jasper Stuyven (Lidl-Trek) stormed past the Intermarche train with Mads Pedersen on his wheel.
But Pedersen didn't have the legs to finish his endeavour. Biniam Girmay had the perfect timing, passing the barrier on the right and celebrating the biggest success of his career. Behind the sprinters, Richard Carapaz (EF Education EasyPost) snuck into 14th place (one place ahead of Pascal Ackermann), taking over the yellow jersey from Tadej Pogacar.
