TOUR IN REVIEW

An unexpectedly ferocious first week saw the peloton tear into the roads of northern France

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• Stage three, Mon 7 July Valenciennes > Dunkirk Winner: T. Merlier Yellow: M. van der Poel On paper what looked like an ordinary bunch sprint was anything but, with the day dominated by the crash and abandon of Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Deceuninck), who was in the green jersey at the time. There were crashes in the finale, too, with Remco Evenepoel (Soudal Quick-Step) among those coming down.

However, it was Tim Merlier (Soudal Quick-Step) who stormed to the win in Dunkirk ahead of Jonathan Milan (Lidl-Trek), after he timed his sprint to perfection.

• Stage four, Tues 8 July Amiens > Rouen Winner: T. Pogačar Yellow: M. van der Poel It was career victory 100 for Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates) in Rouen, as the world champion out-sprinted Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike) and Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck).

A select group of general classification riders lost little time to Pogačar on the steep finish, with Remco Evenepoel (Soudal Quick-Step), Oscar Onley (Picnic PostNL) and Mattias Skjelmose (Lidl-Trek) among those following in shortly after the Slovenian.