Stage 3 TDF 2022 Blog: Magnus, Magnus!
Magnus, Magnus! That was the crowd chanting Magnus Cort’s name on Stage 3 of the 2022 Tour de France.
Once again he was in the breakaway, on this occasion a breakaway of one right from the start. He was first over the day’s three Category 4 climbs, which means he has won all the King of the Mountains points so far.
On ITV, Chris Boardman called it a boring race, which it was in the sense that it was a flat sprint stage with no suspense over whether the breakaway would stay away or not.
But it wasn’t a boring race because it was pure innocent joy to see the huge crowds and the delight they took in watching Danish rider Magnus Cort sprint against no one for the final polka dot jersey point.
Like yesterday, it really was echoes of Yorkshire 2014.
Cort was absorbed back into the bunch with about 50km to go. He didn’t even get a glance from the poker-faced riders on the front of the peloton, who were fully concentrated on doing their work.
From about 20km to go, minds focused on the looming race to the line.
The Sprint Finish
It was an intriguing sprint finish.
Quick Step Alpha Vinyl lost the race on the final bend to the left. Fabio Jakobsen drifted back, away from Michael Morkov’s wheel. Morkov didn’t notice, and kept doing his lead-out down the final straight, inadvertently helping Christophe Laporte and Wout van Aert of Jumbo Visma.
When Morkov belatedly noticed that Jakobsen was a few places back, he peeled off to the left. That left Laporte on the left and van Aert on the right.
That might be a tactic. If Laporte keeps sprinting, (1) they take up more of the road and (2) he’ll take some of the green jersey points, which means fewer points available for van Aert’s rivals.
Sagan and Caleb Ewan picked the right hand side of the road to come past van Aert. Van Aert drifted across towards the barriers, so that Sagan ran out of room.
Ewan was just behind Sagan and was also blocked. He had good speed, and maybe could have won. That’s likely what he was thinking too, because he thumped his handlebars. Sagan pointed meaningfully at van Aert just after the line.
Meanwhile Groenewegen also started to go right, but as the space there disappeared he had the presence of mind to switch to the left instead. A gap opened up, and with a bike throw he was over the line first.
Wout van Aert was second, for the third stage in a row.
It’s worth noting Jasper Philipsen’s sprint. He was following Laporte on the left hand side of the road, then came round him. In a very close finish, Philipsen was third. Don’t be surprised if he wins a stage of this Tour.
Tom Pidcock
Tom Pidcock (Oil and SUVs team) will probably be on domestique duties in this Tour, but he did a good time trial on Stage 1, and is now in tenth place on GC.