Belgian rider Tim Merlier won the crash-marred third stage of the Tour de France in a photo finish and Mathieu Van der Poel kept the yellow jersey on Monday.

Tim Merlier pips Jonathan Milan on the line in a sprint finish to win a crash-marred stage three of the Tour de France.

A three-week Grand Tour will always contain natural ebbs and flows, and, for much of Monday’s stage between Valenciennes and Dunkirk, it looked as if the peloton had declared an unofficial rest day, with the riders happy to cruise back towards the coast after a weekend of wind, rain and intensity.