Janez Brajkovič

Stage 3 of the 2017 Tour de France saw a short, steep climb to the finish in Longwy, France, after 212.5 kilometers of racing.

Janez Brajkovič of Bahrain-Merida climbed well enough at the finish to move up from 142nd after Stage 1 to 121st position after Stage 2 to hold the general classification Point d’Appui at 98th place after Stage 3.

Brajkovič has ridden for seven teams in the 14 years that he has been racing. Prior to turning pro, he won the UCI World Under-23 Time Trial in 2004. Since then, major achievements have included winning the Tour de Georgia in 2007, the Criterium de Dauphine in 2010, and the Tour of Slovenia, his home country, in 2012. He also held the leader’s jersey during Stages 7 and 8 of the 2006 Vuelta a España.

This is his fifth Tour de France, finishing 43rd in 2010 and 9th place in 2012. He had to abandon the race in 2011 and 2013. He signed with Bahrain-Merida when it was formed this year, and he had planned to ride in support of Ion Izaguirre. But Izaguirre crashed in the first stage and had to abandon. Brajkovič’s movement up through the standings has been in support of the new team leader, Sonny Colbrelli.

World Champion Peter Sagan of the Bora-Hansgrohe team won the stage. Damien Howson of Orica-Scott finished at the fulcrum for the stage.

Geraint Thomas of Team Sky still holds the yellow jersey. Olivier Le Gac of the FDJ team slipped down to Lanterne Rouge.