It took five tries, but Jasper Philipsen finally put aside frustration and relegation to win a stage of the 2024 Tour de France. The Alpecin-Deceuninck sprinter had twice been second in sprints and was relegated after dangerous riding on a third day, but would not be denied on the 187.3 km ride from Orléans to Saint-Amand-Montrond.
After another muted, no-breakaway day at the Tour, it was Alpecin that nailed the leadout in the final kilometer, negotiating a tricky final bend with ease as Mathieu van der Poel dropped Philipsen off perfectly. The 2023 green jersey winner was never truly challenged in the sprint, showing a clean set of wheels to his pursuers as current green jersey wearer Biniam Girmay (Intermarché-Wanty) took second.
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How it happened
- After the race’s first rest day, the peloton seemed in no mood to get back to the action, passing the first hour of racing at – by WorldTour standards – a leisurely pace of just over 37 km/h. A brief move from Intermarché’s Kobe Goossens saw him soak up top points at the early intermediate sprint, but the rider and the pack appeared to play a game of chicken as the field slowed significantly even while Goossens didn’t seem to want to continue his solo venture. He was soon re-caught, and no more breakaway attempts were made.
- Even at the 10 km to go mark, the field was largely massed across the front as no team wanted to start the leadout in earnest. Light crosswinds and a tricky finale with three relatively sharp bends were likely on everyone’s mind.
- Finally teams took up the pace and when they did it was fierce, briefly hitting speeds in excess of 80 km/h. EF Education-EasyPost and Israel-Premier Tech hit the front in the final kilometers, but didn’t have the numbers to fully sustain their leadouts. Behind, Alpecin waited patiently, with Van der Poel and Philipsen tucked in behind.
- Through the final corner at 450 meters to go, Van der Poel fired his leadout and Philipsen came off the wheel in perfect timing to take a much needed win after a week of setbacks, some self-inflicted.
- Aside from Aleksandr Vlasov (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) DNS’ing after a fractured ankle suffered on stage 9, there were no changes to the overall classification.
Yeah, of course – it was a tough week and it is already stage 10. It’s been five sprints without a win and so finally today we can do what we came for.
-Philipsen, speaking to Eurosport about whether his win today was a relief
Brief analysis
- Philipsen’s points haul today was badly needed if he has any hope of taking the green jersey off of Girmay’s back. Entering the day Philipsen was a distant second, nearly 100 points behind the Eritrean double-stage winner. But between the win and just nicking Girmay in the intermediate sprint, Philipsen picked up 22 points on his rival. The gap is still substantial, but with two more likely sprint finishes this week, the competition could tighten considerably.
- That said, Philipsen wouldn’t be drawn when TV interviewer Seb Piquet asked him about the rivalry with Girmay. “He’s doing a really strong Tour so far and is a lot of points ahead so I think we just try to focus on the stage win, which we just succeeded, and look forward to the next stage and try as much as possible and see where we can get,” said Philipsen of his green jersey chances.
- Today was a continuation of an unusual trend this Tour: the almost complete lack of interest in a breakaway on many days, in particular those likely to end in a sprint finish. In years past we’ve seen small teams go for the break even when there’s clearly no hope, but the calculus has obviously changed away from seeking hours of TV time for its own sake. Jonny Long has more on that story here.
- With no climbs on today’s route, Jonas Abrahamsen (Uno-X Mobility) stays in the polka-dot jersey of best climber for another day; he’s led the competition since the Grand Depart in Florence. But that may end unless he goes in the break on stage 11: with six categorized climbs, including two Category 2 and one Category 1 finish, there are significant points on offer.
- In Abrahamsen’s favor: a breakaway will likely go on Wednesday, meaning that the GC riders who may be his biggest threat won’t score tons of points (the finish ascent is only a Cat 3). But Abrahamsen will have to be alert to riders like Valentin Madouas (Groupama-FDJ) and Stephen Williams (Israel-Premier Tech), both of whom are likely breakaway candidates.
Up next
Speaking of stage 11, it’s a 211 km ride from Évaux-les-Bains to Le Lioran, with almost 4,400 meters of climbing. There are six categorized ascents and most of the climbing comes in the final third of the stage. It’s not technically a summit finish (the last KOM, the Cat 3 Col de Font de Cère, comes 3 km from the finish). Finally, it’s breakaway time again.
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