The Tour de France landed back in France on Monday with the third stage, the first chance for sprinters, but once again Wout Van Aert missed out on his 10th career win.

The Belgian, who narrowly missed Victor Lafaye in the breakaway in Saint-Sebastien, finished fifth in Bayonne after being sandwiched between stage winner Jasper Philipsen and the barriers on the climb to the finish.

In contrast to the previous afternoon, however, Van Aert was in good spirits as he boarded the Jumbo-Visma team bus just past the finish line. After a brief warm-down, debriefing with his arriving teammates, and checking over his shoulder for a replay of the finish, he told the media about his events.

"Christophe Laporte in particular did a great job and put me in a good position," Van Aert said of the tricky finale, which included a hairpin with 2 km to go and a climb to the finish.

"I tried to pass Jasper from the right side," Van Aert said. 'But we touched each other and the spectators. That's why I couldn't sprint in the last 50 meters."

Up front, Philipsen took his third stage win in two years, while Van Aert dropped to fifth. After the finish, there was a pause as UCI commissioners reviewed footage of the final sprint before Philipsen's victory was confirmed.

Van Aart said it was "hard to say" whether or not Philipsen's sprint was fair, and Arthur van Dongen, director sportif of Jumbo Visma, said there were problems with the curve road to the finish, Cycling News and Cycling Weekly.

"I don't think it's even for me to judge," Van Aert said, before Van Dongen said. 'Wout started the sprint in third place. 'According to UCI rules, the last 200 meters should be a straight line, but that's just not the case. It's normal for this to happen, but it's the jury that decides. That's the reality."

"Maybe so, but it's part of cycling that the athlete leading the sprint takes the straightest line to the finish. But that's what wouts are all about. It's not up to us to decide if it's good or bad. It's up to the judges."

In any case, stage 3 of the Tour de France is over, the awards ceremony and post-race press conference are over, and Jasper Philipsen is the winner. Wout Van Aert will have to wait another day, but a flatter finish tomorrow, when Jumbo Visma could forfeit his victory, may not come, Van Dongen said.

But despite another day of bad luck and a winless stage, Van Aert ended the day with a smile.

"I'm more relaxed than I was yesterday," he concluded, giving a post-stage interview outside the Jumbo-Visma bus.