Eritrea’s Biniam Girmay was victorious in a messy first sprint at the Tour de France, while Carrick-on-Suir’s Sam Bennett manages to finish within the top-ten.
Following an explosive opening two days at this year’s Tour de France, stage three provided the first opportunity for the sprinters to prove their worth.
Taking place between Piacenza and Turin, the peloton would cover a flat 230km across Northern Italy.
It would be the final stage to take place entirely in Italy before the race passes into France during stage four.
However, it seemed that ‘racing’ was not on the agenda and, as the flag dropped, there was little interest in a breakaway.
It wasn’t until after 164km of riding that a wholehearted attempt to escape the bunch was made by French rider Fabien Grellier (TotalEnergies).
Grellier would, however, not be granted a significant advantage and his lead never surpassed more than one minute.
Before too long, the sprint teams would organise themselves and take up their expected position at the front of the bunch as the speed began to ramp into the finale.
A wide and fast final ten kilometres made for hectic racing. This led to a large crash in the final three kilometres limiting those fighting for the stage win.
Eritrea’s Biniam Girmay (Intermarché – Wanty) navigated his way through the chaos to finish best out of the reduced bunch, his first ever Tour de France stage. Second place would go to Fernando Gaviria (Movistar) while Arnaud De Lie (Lotto Dstny) finished in third.
Despite Carrick-on-Suir’s Sam Bennett (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale Team) finding himself boxed-in during the finale, he managed to finish in ninth.
This remains a positive result for the former green jersey winner and a sign that he can still be in contention amongst the world’s best.
Richard Carapaz (EF Education – Easy Post) moves into the yellow jersey and takes overall control of the race, although he is on the same time as Remco Evenepoel (Soudal Quick-Step), Jonas Vinegared (Team Visma – Lease a Bike) and Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates).
This could all change soon, as Stage 4 poses the first mountain test for the general classification up the threatening Col du Galibier.
