Tour de France Stage 3 Preview: The First Day for the Sprinters?

Stage 3 of the 2024 Tour de France brings a mix of good news and bad news for the riders. The good news: after two stages with a combined 5,500m of elevation gain, there’s relatively little climbing on the roads between Piacenza and Torino. The bad news: at 230.5km, Stage 3 is the longest of the entire 2024 Tour de France, and with high temperatures again expected throughout the late-afternoon, it’s going to be another hot day on the bike.

The stage begins in Piacenza, a town in the heart of Emilia-Romagna that’s the birthplace of Giorgio Armani. From there the race heads west toward Torino, through the Lombardy region of northern Italy, and into the Piedmont region that sits at the foothill of the Alps. A breakaway will certainly escape during the first hour of the stage, but with the sprinters’ teams eager to give their fast men their first chance to win a stage, they won’t survive.

Along the way, the peloton will tackle three Category 4 climbs, but with only one point available to the rider who’s first over the summit of each one, Norway’s Jonas Abrahamsen (Uno-X Mobility)–who will start the stage wearing the green jersey as the leader of the Tour’s Points competition but also holds an 11-point advantage over France’s Valentin Madouas (Groupama-FDJ) in the Tour’s King of the Mountains competition–will at least be wearing the polka dot jersey into Stage 4.

The last of these three climbs–the Côte de Sommariva Perno–comes about 50km from the finish, which is more than enough time for the sprinters’ teams to reel in any remaining escapees, get themselves organized for the finale, and with more intense heat expected, pace their sprinters back to the bunch if they were dropped on the climb.

The pace will be intense as the race heads into Torino. It’s a flat run-in to the finish line, and the riders will take a long straight road into the heart of the city. But things will get dicey inside the final kilometer thanks to two hard left-hand corners, the first with about 900m to go and the second with about 700m to go.

Anyone wishing to win the stage will need to be at the front of the bunch heading into these corners, so don’t be surprised if teams are racing for the red kite as if it’s the finish line. At 500m to go the road bends slightly to the left, and from that point the riders will be able to see the line.

Luckily, this will be the first of six stages in this year’s Tour de France that will test new modifications to a safety regulation that sees the traditional 3km “safe zone” extended to 5km. This means that riders will not lose any time due to crashes or mechanicals inside the last 5km of the stage, so–in theory at least–that GC contenders and their teams won’t have to fight with the sprinters in their teams at the front of the bunch.

Riders still need to finish with the leading peloton in order to be given the same finish time, but now they can sit closer to the back of the group heading into the finish line and therefore create less-congested, safer conditions at the front.

Stage 3 is the first chance for the sprinters to win a stage of the 2024 Tour de France, and Belgium’s Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Deceuninck)–who won four stages and the green jersey in last year’s Tour–is the top favorite. The Belgian and his team stayed out of trouble during the opening weekend, likely because he’s targeting Monday’s finish in Torino. With the Netherlands’ Mathieu van der Poel–the current world champion–leading him out, Philipsen will be tough to beat.

It will be interesting to see how Great Britain’s Mark Cavendish (Astana Qazaqstan) and the Netherlands’ Fabio Jakobsen (dsm-firmenich PostNL) fare on Stage 3. Both sprinters spent a considerable amount of time suffering off the back of the race on Stages 1 and 2–the heat was just too much for them. We wonder if they’ll be in it to win it on Monday–especially with a trip through the Alps on Tuesday.

Slovenia’s Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates), who took the yellow jersey on Stage 2, should have no problems defending his lead on the Tour’s General Classification. The sprinters should pick-up the time bonuses available at the end of the stage, so assuming the 25-year-old finishes alongside his closest rivals, he will wear the jersey during Tuesday’s trip through the Alps.

You can stream Stage 3 of the 2024 Tour de France on NBC’s Peacock ($5.99/month or $59.99/year). If you’re looking for ad-free coverage, you’ll need a subscription to Peacock Premium Plus, which runs $11.99 per month or $119.99 for the year.

With a relatively easy stage and a field sprint expected in Torino, feel free to tune-in late. The stage is expected to end around 11:15 a.m. EDT, so check-in at around 10:45 a.m. EDT to make sure the race isn’t ahead of schedule (we don’t think it will be), and then watch the sprinters wind things up for a fast finish with about 10km to go.

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