Julian Alaphilippe returned to racing in the Tour of Britain after a break to recover from the Tour de France and a run of circuit race appearances before building up to the world championships at the end of the month.

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The Frenchman says he is merely “fresh” but he has looked positively effervescent on the short sharp climbs in South Wales, Devon and Bristol, where his victory at the end of a 128km, high-speed stage suggests he will be the rider to watch in the Lake District later this week.

Alaphilippe did not take the race lead on the Clifton Downs; the green jersey went to the stage three runner-up, the New Zealander Patrick Bevin, who was awarded an eight-second time bonus for finishing second, which came in handy after the Italian Alessandro Tonelli was left behind as the race was torn apart in the closing kilometres by a succession of small hills and descents.

However, Alaphilippe has been peerless uphill and his Quickstep Floors team will be among the favourites for the team time trial up Whinlatter Pass in the Lake District on Thursday. This has been an outstanding season for him, with victories in the La Flèche Wallonne and San Sebastián Classics as well as his brace of stage wins and king of the mountains jersey at the Tour, and it could well be about to get even better.

Quick guide General classification after stage three Show Hide 1) Patrick Bevin (NZ/BMC Racing) 11hrs 3mins 11secs 2) Cameron Mayer (Aus/Mitchelton-Scott) same time 3) Julian Alaphilippe (Fra/Quick-Step Floors) +2secs 4) Jasha Sutterlin (Ger/Movistar Team) +12secs 5) Wout Poels (Ned/Team Sky) same time 6) Christopher Hamilton (Aus/Team Sunweb) same time 7) Bob Jungels (Lux/Quick-Step Floors) same time 8) Primoz Roglic (Slo/Team LottoNL-Jumbo) same time 9) Hugh Carthy (GB/Team EF Education First-Drapac p/b Cannondale) + 19secs 10) Scott Davies (GB/Team Dimension Data) + 22secs

After the drag up to the Clifton Suspension Bridge, the slightly uphill sprint was contested by a group whittled back to 32, with Caleb Ewan nominally the fastest, but on this occasion the late hills deadened the speed in the Australian’s legs. Alaphilippe enjoyed a fine lead-out from his teammate Bob Jungels, which appeared to have rivals such as Bevin gasping, although the 19-year-old Londoner Ethan Hayter punched well above his weight to claim fourth.

Wednesday sees a long, contorted loop from Nuneaton into the Cotswolds and back to Royal Leamington Spa, which will favour Ewan, the Newport winner André Greipel and Fernando Gaviria, both of whom went on the attack en route to Bristol; the smart money will be on them saving their energy for what should be a certain sprint finish.