Stopping beside his wife Sarah and baby Georges after a sprint win on stage 3 of the Tour de France, Wout Van Aert shouted "verdomd" (damn it) in Dutch as he tried to console his young family after finishing second for the third consecutive year in this year's competition.

Several of his teammates rushed to him, but he showed even more disappointment in himself.

"I've finished second three times in a row, but this time it was in my own hands. It's my first big disappointment," Van Aert admitted. [The last two days I was beaten by stronger players. Dylan [Groenewegen] was strong today, but I think I pulled Christophe Laporte's steering too fast. He went into the wind too early

"If I had sat there and waited a little longer I would have won. This was a big mistake on my part because this sprint was all about centimeters."

Van Aert's only consolation was that he kept the yellow jersey for another day and collected the Crédit Lyonnais lion for Georges on the podium.

"I'm happy to have the yellow. Today was a really special day.

"There were huge crowds along the way, but it was less stressful for the group.

Van Aert admitted that he saw Peter Sagan wagging his finger angrily, but denied the notion that he had deviated from the line in the sprint and pushed Sagan toward the barrier.

"I saw him pass by me and I saw him trying to say something.

"I don't know how far he went or what happened there.

As the Tour de France finished the Grand Depart stage in Denmark and moved on to France, Van Aert boarded a rider charter flight from Sundaborg to Lille immediately after the stage. Van Aert will be able to enjoy being the race leader on Monday's rest day, but will keep his legs spinning for the next few days in northern France.

"It's a little strange to have the first rest day so soon," he said.

"I know myself, so I have to keep the engine running on Monday in order to have good legs on Tuesday. After the move I want to take a good rest, but this is something new for me."

Van Aert hopes to keep the iconic yellow jersey through Wednesday's Paris-Roubaix cobbled stage and perhaps beyond. Even if he keeps the yellow, it could tire his teammate Jumbo Visma, who must support Primoš Roglic and Jonas Vingegaard in the battle for the overall win and help Van Aert take the green points jersey.

"The upcoming race will be really tough. Every stage has tricky parts like cobblestones, but it's to my advantage if the stages are a little more difficult," Van Aert said.

"I'm looking forward to these stages. I'm looking forward to combining my two ambitions, green and yellow. I'm looking forward to combining the two ambitions of green and yellow.""We're in a good position for green and we're in a good position for GC.