Lorena Wiebes (Team SD Works) won the third stage of the Tour de France women's race as everyone expected, winning the sprint battle after being led by yellow jersey winner Lotte Kopecky. Lone attacker Julie van de Velde (Phoenix Deceuninck) got away before 59km and was caught just before the finish.

Team SD-Walks took the lead in the last 3km when Team dsm-Filmenig was unable to close the gap to Van de Velde.

Wiebes, who moved from the team to SD Volks before the 2023 season, used inside information to outmaneuver his former teammates.

"I know that if they have a plan, they will go full steam ahead for that plan. I felt it was to sprint with Charlotte (Kool). If they want to sprint, they know to chase the breakaway group. Last year, there were a lot of situations where it was up to us to chase the breakaway group," Vives explained of his former team's tactics at the stage winner's press conference.

When asked why he dropped back instead of joining the chase to ensure a sprint, Wiebes pointed to the team's diverse goals.

"We have the GC leader on our team and it's still a long way to the end of the race. It's not up to us and we need our athletes for the next days. We can't let them run full out or we won't be able to do anything for GC."

"That's the thing about sprints, sometimes you have to take a gamble. We've already won so many races this year," said Wiebes, suggesting that the team was prepared to let Van de Velde win.

Her teammate, Swiss champion Marlen Reusser, took the lead of the peloton in the last 3 km, but her chase was interrupted by Van de Velde's teammates.

"It was difficult to move up and really stay there. It would have helped if I could have pulled away faster, but I couldn't get there. It was stupid, to be honest. I saw the Phoenix-Deceuninck players going up and I thought, 'Oh, I'm going to fall. But they were wrong and everything stopped. In the end it worked out. I was lucky," Reusser said in an honest assessment of the hectic last 10 km.

Lotte Kopecky, in the yellow jersey, was impressed by the performance of her compatriots in the breakaway.

"Julie was very strong. It is really difficult for a rider who has been riding alone for so long to keep the gap to the peloton. But in the end, two or three riders from our team started to help DSM. I saw Julie at the last corner and I started sprinting to lead Lorena," Kopecky said.

Leading Wiebes, Kopecky continued his sprint and finished third.