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2024 Tour de France

111th edition: June 29 - July 21, 2024
Stage 3, July 1, 2024

Back to 2024 Tour de France

Monday, July 1: Stage 3, Piacenza (Plaisance)- Torino (Turin), 230.8 km

Stage 3 map & profile

Biniam Girmay wins stage three. ASO photo

Marcus Aurelius' Meditations is available in both Kindle eBook & audiobook versions. To get your copy, just click on the Amazon link on the right.

Rated ascents:

• Km 70.5: Côte de Tortone - Fausto Coppi, 1.1 km @ 6.3%. Cat. 4
• Km 155.8: Côte de Barbaresco, 1.5 km @ 6.5%. Cat. 4
• Km 181.1: Côte de Sommariva Perno, 3.1 km @ 4.6%. Cat 4

Weather at the finish city of Torino (Turin) at 2:00 PM, local time: 26C (80F), sunny, with the wind from the southeast at 6 km/hr (4 mph). There is a 45% chance of rain, dropping to 24% at 4:00 PM.

The stage: Pure sprinters will get their first chance to shine on the road from Emilia-Romagna to Piedmont. A course with nary a bump on the road, a detour through Lombardy, a visit to Tortona, where Fausto Coppi drew his final breath, a romp through the Langhe, which boasts delicious truffles and wine-growing landscapes on the UNESCO World Heritage list, some of the roads of Milan–San Remo… Against such a jaw-dropping backdrop, any breakaways will have their work cut out for them to stay clear and pre-empt a bunch sprint.

This is the 2024 Tour's longest stage.

Tadej Pogacar will spend the 22nd day of his Tour racing career in yellow. Pogacar is the first rider in 14 years wearing both the Maglia Rosa at the Giro and the Maillot Jaune at the Tour in the same year. Last time this happened was in 2010, when Cadel Evans was in Rosa after the 2nd Giro stage (Utrecht) and in Jaune after the 8th stage at the Tour (Morzine Avoriaz).

The race: Here's the race organizer's stage three summary.

At the end of the longest stage on the 2024 Tour de France it was Biniam Girmay (Intermarche - Wanty) who grabbed the win, beating Fernando Gaviria (Movistar Team) to the line in front of the Italian fans. In the frantic sprint in Turin Girmay was too strong for his rivals, just getting the better of Gaviria, with Arnaud de Lie (Lotto-dstny) in third place and Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek) and Dylan Groenewegen (Jayco-AlUla) completing the top five. Meanwhile it is an amazing moment for Richard Carapaz (EF Education-EasyPost) as he took control of the Yellow Jersey for the first time in his career.

No breakaway
175 riders took the start on the third day of the 2024 Tour de France with the route covering 230.8 kilometers between Piacenza and Turin, making it the longest in this year’s race. The prospect of a doomed breakaway which would surely be controlled by the sprinters' teams deterred any serious potential attackers. There was a strange, short excursion from the peloton for five kilometres by Jonas Abrahamsen and Johannes Kulset (Uno-X) early in the stage, but they quickly re-joined the group. The peloton was still all together as the riders completed the first hour of racing at an average speed of 37.3 km/h.

Tadej Pogacar in yellow, about 30 kms into the stage. Photo: ASO/Charly Lopez

Racking up points
The race visited Tortona (km 70.8) paying homage to one of Italian cycling’s true greats and on the Côte de Tortone - Fausto Coppi (named after the ‘campionissimo’) Jonas Abrahamsen (Uno-X) added another point to his Mountain classification tally, whilst wearing the green jersey. At the Alexandrie intermediate sprint (km 94.3) Abrahamsen added nine more green jersey points in seventh place, with the sprint won by Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek), just ahead of Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Deceuninck) as the fast men tested their legs for the finish in Turin.

Moments in the spotlight
For a local rider on the stage Matteo Sobrero (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) there was a special little win as he went over the Côte de Barbaresco (Cat 4, km 156.1) in first place, with his entire family and fan club there to enjoy the moment. TotalEnergies rider Fabian Grellier accelerated with 66 kilometers to go and left the peloton, going over the Côte de Sommariva Perno (Cat 4, km 181.4) alone with a 40" advantage at the top of the climb. Grellier was later reeled back in by the bunch with 28km to go, but his efforts were rewarded with the Most Combative rider prize.

Biniam Girmay is the day's fastest. Sirotti photo

An exciting finish in Turin
The fight for stage victory went down to an anticipated bunch sprint at the finish in front of a big crowd in Turin, with Girmay crossing the line first, ahead of Gaviria, De Lie, Pedersen and Groenewegen. There was drama with a big crash 2.3 km from the finish line that affected a dozen riders, among them, the stage favourite Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Deceuninck), whilst his teammate Van der Poel was the victim of costly a late puncture which meant he lost contact with the bunch. Richard Carapaz’ finishing position on the stage puts him in the Yellow Jersey for the first time in a storied career to make it an incredible day for him and the EF Education-EasyPost team. Jonas Abrahamsen meanwhile, maintains ownership of the polka dot and green jerseys.

Richard Carapaz will ride stage four in yellow. Sirotti photo

Complete results:

230.8 kilometers raced at an average speed of 42.375 km/hr

GC after stage 3:

• GC leader: Richard Carapaz (EF Education-EasyPost)
• Points classification leader: Jonas Abrahamsen (Uno-X Mobility)
• Mountains classification leader: Jonas Abrahamsen (Uno-X Mobility)
• Best young rider: Remco Evenepoel (Soudal Quick-Step)
• Teams classification leader: Movistar

636 kilometers raced so far at an average speed of 41.465 km/hr

Stage 3 map & profile

Stage 3 map

Stage 3 profile