There was an attack from the peloton (one Q36.5) that reduced the gap but the breakaway reacted and among it the 2 weakest riders dropped (one FDJ and perhaps a Lotto). Then the peloton regrouped.

There was in the following climbs a succession of attacks/accelerations and resting moments. One Decathlon and one Total joined the breakaway, then this Decathlon left with Unibet's Kopecky. Then there was a global regroup. Kopecky managed again to follow other attacks.

In the end a large bunch of almost 50 riders arrived for a sprint.

Decathlon and FDJ behaved a bit strangely today, once more. Typically, they would attack but then wouldn't quite relay, even when they outnumbered others teams. The result is that after 3 stages, not a single rider from those 2 French🇫🇷 WTs has scored a time bonus. Their 2 leaders are so-so, they sometimes attack, but they can't make a big or durable difference, if any.

Each of the 3 Belgian🇧🇪 teams engaged has won a stage: Flanders, then Lotto, and now Alpecin.

Kubish (🇸🇰 Unibet) having finished 2^nd^ twice, becomes the leader of the race. Crabbe (🇧🇪 Flanders) started being in trouble as soon as climbs started, and the peloton pushed a little bit.

Louis Hardouin (🇫🇷 Roubaix) did well again, he finished the stage in 3^rd^ position; and so is his ranking in GC.

Victor Papon (🇫🇷 Nice) scored Mountain points today in the breakaway. He's 16 points ahead of 5 followers; there are a maximum of 6 points tomorrow, and 10 on the last day's Time Trial. I haven't got the rules, so perhaps he is already sure to bring the jersey home, or perhaps he will have to score 1 point in the early little bump tomorrow to be safe for the rest of the race.