Danish rider Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig outmuscled Marianne Vos to win stage three of the women's Tour de France on Tuesday, but the veteran Dutch rider held on to the yellow jersey.

The day after a nightmare stage two for her FDJ-Suez team, marked by the abandonment of title contender Marta Cavalli, Ludwig battled back from a fall to produce a vintage performance in the Champagne region.

After two relatively flat rides, the peloton had to face its first climbs, as they took on the 133.6km course from Reims to Epernay.

Eleven riders slugged it out over the final stages, with Vos working hard to rejoin the leaders after being dropped.

The 35-year-old, who took over the yellow jersey with victory in stage two on Monday, kicked hard, but it was the younger legs of 26-year-old Ludwig who powered through the line first.

"I wanted to help the team, keep my 'fighting spirit'," said Luwig, who was wearing the jersey of Danish champion. "I knew that if I had the legs, I could play for victory. From there to do it, to become a winner of a stage in the Tour de France and with this jersey... my God, what more could you ask for?"

Team Jumbo-Visma's Vos finished 2 seconds behind, closely shadowed by South African Ashleigh Moolman, Italians Silvia Persico and Elisa Lono Borghini and Pole Katarzyna Niewiadoma.

Vos leads the general classification with a 16-second lead over Valcar-Travel and Service's Persico and Niewiadoma of Canyon-SRAM

Annemiek van Vleuten, one of the pre-race favourites, was dropped on the Mont Bernon climb four kilometres from the finish.

The Olympic time-trial champion managed to rejoin the leading group but again fell away in the closing stages and finished 20 seconds after Ludwig.

The eight-stage race ends Sunday.