It took a long time for Jasper Philipsen to get going at the 2024 Tour de France, but the Alpecin-Deceuninck sprinter took his second stage win in four days at the race, dashing out of a reduced group of fast men left to contest the finish after a late crash with 500 meters to go disrupted the sprint. Wout van Aert finished runner-up for the second day in a row.
The day saw brief excitement with a wind-induced split in the field, but with all the main contenders and a few top sprinters present, the groups eventually came back together. The only major change on overall classification was the overnight DNF of Primož Roglič. The Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe leader, who was in sixth overall, did not start stage 13 due to injuries suffered in yesterday’s crash.
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How it happened
- In contrast to other sprint stages, today got off to a ripping start almost from the gun. A 21-rider move pulled clear, including Philipsen’s teammates Alex Laurence and Mathieu van der Poel, key parts of his lead-out train.
- Crosswinds split the pack with more than 140 km to go, and although the split came back together, the first hour of racing went by at a brisk clip of more than 48 km/h. Somehow, the break still managed to stay a minute clear of the chase.
- With 60 km to go, more cracks appeared and a select group of around 40 riders split ahead of the main peloton. But as the group contained the three main contenders for the yellow jersey and several top sprinters, that gap was closed roughly 18 km later, but not before the yellow jersey group swallowed up the break.
- Tobias Halland Johannesen (Uno-X Mobility) and EF Education-EasyPost’s Richard Carapaz went clear, even as stage 6 winner Dylan Groenewegen (Jayco AlUla) was losing contact in the pack. The two-rider move was re-absorbed and despite several more attempts from others, the pack came into the finish intact.
- But just before the last bend, with around 500 meters to go, a Lotto Dstny rider moving up in the bunch collided with Arkéa-B&B Hotels’ Amaury Capiot after the latter had pulled off his pacemaking skills. That crash took down Astana Qazaqstan’s Cees Bol and several others and set off a chain-reaction crash on the other side of the road.
- Without Van der Poel for a lead-out this time, Philipsen jumped early just as the Van Aert’s lead-out man Christophe Laporte pulled off. Philipsen got a clear gap, just holding off Van Aert as he closed at the line.
It was the best feeling I’ve had at the Tour so far. We didn’t have the best start, feeling-wise, [and] some bad luck, but I’m happy we could turn it around with two stage wins. It’s not a bad Tour.
-Philipsen on overcoming his first-week struggles
Brief analysis
- Primož Roglič’s DNS this morning due to crash injuries clearly appeared to motivate yellow jersey Tadej Pogačar to avoid similar issues. Even well inside the 3 km to go mark, Pogačar stayed close to the front of the race throughout. It proved a smart choice given the crash that took place just a few hundred meters later, as Pogačar was safely ahead and finished in ninth place.
- There’s another danger stalking the peloton: Pogačar’s UAE Team Emirates teammate Juan Ayuso didn’t finish, climbing off the bike not long after the start of the stage. UAE confirmed to media that Ayuso had tested positive for COVID-19. Two Bahrain Victorious riders – Pello Bilbao and Fred Wright – are also out of the race with unspecified illness, and more riders and staff have been spotted wearing masks at the race.
- It’s the second day in a row for Van Aert to come close to a stage win. Even with the benefit of Laporte’s lead-out, Van Aert wasn’t able to get the better of Philipsen. But another rider’s star is quietly rising: Israel-Premier Tech’s Pascal Ackermann was almost invisible in week one, but since the rest day has notched three podium finishes in sprints and appears to be improving with each stage.
Up next
It’s back to the mountains for the weekend as the Tour enters the Pyrenees. Saturday’s 152 km stage 14 starts flat in Pau, but there are three monstrous ascents in the latter half, including the Hors Categorie Col du Tourmalet – one of the highest points in the race at 2,114 meters – and the summit finish at St-Lary-Soulan (Pla d’Adet). It’s the first true summit finish of the 2024 Tour, so expect the GC action to be spicy.
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