Staying in the north of France, stage three is a 178km run from Valenciennes to Dunkerque, with the finish line near the Calais coast. It’s a largely flat day in the saddle but for the return of the category-four climb of Mont Cassel, so important to the Tour’s organisers that they’ve included it twice, on both stage one and three.

Brent Bookwalter and Tejay Van Garderen preview the sprint-heavy Tour de France Stage 3 that favors Alpecin–Deceuninck's Jasper Philipsen and puts the Soudal-Quick Step team in a pinch.

A sprint stage that followed the traditional script until several crashes marred the race in the final, as well as at the intermediate sprint.