{"id":244807,"date":"2025-07-07T08:31:16","date_gmt":"2025-07-07T08:31:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/244807\/"},"modified":"2025-07-07T08:31:16","modified_gmt":"2025-07-07T08:31:16","slug":"tour-de-france-stage-3-preview-will-echelon-mayhem-leave-team-leaders-exposed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/244807\/","title":{"rendered":"Tour de France stage 3 preview: will echelon mayhem leave team leaders exposed?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>We&#8217;re back in the flat lands today for the last of the three Grand D\u00e9part stages in the Hauts-de-France r\u00e9gion. <\/p>\n<p>However, although stage 3 is the flattest so far, it cunningly manages to take in the climb through Cassel that also featured in stage 1. <\/p>\n<p>The organisers have also schemed for echelon mayhem \u2013 should the winds decide to blow.<\/p>\n<p>Stage 3: Valenciennes &gt; Dunkerque<\/p>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Date:<\/strong> 7 July<\/li>\n<li><strong>Distance:<\/strong> 178.3km<\/li>\n<li><strong>Elevation gain: <\/strong>800m<\/li>\n<li><strong>Stage type:<\/strong> Flat<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" width=\"940\" height=\"288\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/TdeF2025-Stages-Stage-3-Scedule.jpg\" alt=\"Tour de France 2025 stage 3 \u2013 Valenciennes &gt; Dunkerque - schedule\" class=\"wp-image-922632\"\/><br \/>\nRoute profile<br \/>\n<img loading=\"lazy\" width=\"1538\" height=\"597\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/TdeF2025-Stages-Stage-3-Elevation.jpg\" alt=\"Tour de France 2025 stage 3 \u2013 Valenciennes &gt; Dunkerque - elevation\" class=\"wp-image-922631\"\/><br \/>\nRoute map<br \/>\n<img loading=\"lazy\" width=\"960\" height=\"679\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/TDF-2025-Stage-3-map.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-922820\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Route planners aren\u2019t only at the mercy of how the riders tackle a particular stage, but what the weather does, too.<\/p>\n<p>A cold, wet day in the mountains will produce a different result from sweltering temperatures, as will today\u2019s stage to Dunkerque, plotted in hope that a gale picks up.<\/p>\n<p>Should it not, today will be one of the more incidental stages of the race for the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bikeradar.com\/features\/tour-de-france-jersey-colours\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">yellow jersey<\/a> favourites.<\/p>\n<p>If crosswinds arrive, however, there could be some big winners and losers.<\/p>\n<p>From Valenciennes \u2013 another town that evokes Paris-Roubaix \u2013 the peloton heads north-west on flat roads. The final section, before the finish in Dunkerque, is where things might get tasty, through the huge expanse of Flanders countryside.<\/p>\n<p>Teams will become vital and any team leader left isolated will be exposed.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe riders and team managers all become weather experts on the morning of this type of stage,\u201d says race director Christian Prudhomme.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere\u2019ll be no need for panic as the stage passes Isbergues. However, following the climb of the C\u00f4te de Cassel, the final 35 kilometres will be exposed to the wind.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWill it blow? And in which direction?<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe stage has been designed to encourage the formation of echelons or, failing that, for a bunch finish near the Marcel-Tribut Stadium.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>More on the Tour de France 2025<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"We&#8217;re back in the flat lands today for the last of the three Grand D\u00e9part stages in the&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":244808,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4104],"tags":[4230,79,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-244807","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-cycling","8":"tag-cycling","9":"tag-sports","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114811023272690526","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/244807","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=244807"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/244807\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/244808"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=244807"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=244807"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=244807"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}