Tour de France stage three predictions and betting tips: Philipsen can kick-start bid for green

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Jasper Philipsen to win stage three
1pt 4-6 bet365

Tour de France stage three predictions

Tour de France favourite Tadej Pogacar is in yellow already after an explosive second stage that brought the big names to the fore and left four of them locked together on time at the top.

Jonas Vingegaard was the only one of the GC contenders who could respond to Pogacar’s late thrust on the San Luca climb, although Remco Evenepoel recovered on the descent to the finish and sits second overall, with Vingegaard third and Richard Carapaz fourth.

Primoz Roglic could not match them, however, and lost 21 seconds to those GC rivals. Stage victory went to young French rider Kevin Vauquelin.

Stage three to Turin is a prime opportunity for the sprinters to make a first mark on this year’s race.

Probably the best lead-out train belongs to the Alpecin-Deceuninck team of Jasper Philipsen, using Mathieu van der Poel as the catapult, and he has to be favourite to add to last year’s four stage wins.

In the absence of Tim Merlier and Jonathan Milan, barely any of Philipsen’s rivals have beaten him in a key sprint this year and the Milan-San Remo winner has carried his excellent spring form into the summer.

One with a recent verdict over Philipsen is Arnaud de Lie, who edged him out in last week’s Belgian national championship. This is a tough test for the 22-year-old in his first Tour, however.

Dutch national champion Dylan Groenewegen poses a bigger threat. The five-time Tour stage winner has four victories on his record this season as well as third place behind Merlier and Philipsen in the always informative Scheldeprijs.

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