Staying in the north of France, stage three is a 178km run from Valenciennes to Dunkerque, with the finish line near the Calais coast. It’s a largely flat day in the saddle but for the return of the category-four climb of Mont Cassel, so important to the Tour’s organisers that they’ve included it twice, on both stage one and three.

Jasper Philipsen has won the opening stage of the Tour de France in a sprint to the line in Lille. Defending champion Tadej Pogačar finished safely.

The Visma-Lease a Bike team of Jonas Vingegaard were the protagonists, with several contenders for the overall classification — including Remco Evenepoel — distanced as the echelons formed. That main part of the peloton, which also contained Primoz Roglic and Geraint Thomas, ended up losing 49 seconds to the stage winner.