Dylan Groenewegen (Jayco-AlUla) mastered a fast and nervous finish to take his sixth career Tour de France stage win in Dijon. As with yesterday’s stage 5 finish, the winner didn’t come off the slingshot of a perfect leadout but rather surfed the wheels to find the right opening at just the right time.
Into the final kilometers, several lead-out trains dueled at the front, with Alpecin-Deceuninck ending up with just the right mix of timing and riders on the front for Jasper Philipsen. But Groenewegen waited patiently in the wheels and in an almost-perfect replay of Mark Cavendish’s stage 5 win, the Dutchman burst out of the field across the left side of the road to take the first photo finish win of the 2024 Tour over Philipsen.
Philipsen was later relegated from second to last in the bunch after the race jury decided he had illegally impeded Wout van Aert in the sprint. Despite the hectic finale, there was only one crash in the final 10 km and no change to the top 10 on overall classification.
Loading...
How it happened
- The 163.5 km stage from Macon to Dijon was always likely to end in a sprint, but the pack seemed so determined for that outcome that, in a rarity for the Tour, no riders even attempted a breakaway. The field stayed together for the early intermediate sprint and after that, persistent crosswinds likely foiled any plans for aggression. Ultimately, there were no recorded attacks.
- That’s not to say the stage passed without incident; with just over 80 km to go Mark Cavendish (Astana Qazaqstan) had a flat tire and shortly after that, Visma-Lease a Bike hit the gas trying to split the field in crosswinds. The move succeeded, with a peloton of roughly 60 riders quickly distancing the rest. But with all the overall favorites safely up front and mostly sprinters among the big names caught out, Visma soon backed off.
- That, however, led to a by-turns desperate and comical chase for Cavendish, who at one point was well back in the cars. A long draft behind his Astana team car led to a stern finger-wag from a moto commissaire, and as Cavendish slowly worked his way to the front he exchanged some heated words with the race director’s car before said car itself finally gave him an unmistakable slingshot tow back to the field. There aren’t many riders in the race who would receive that kind of treatment.
- Cavendish’s Astana team was well organized for the final, but got swamped inside 2 km to go by Uno-X Mobility, Bahrain Victorious, and Alpecin. Alpecin hit the front with numbers at exactly the right moment, but Groenewegen’s perfectly timed dash into the open road on the left set him up for a clear view of the finish.
Today was a different kind of stage. I said to the boys today is not for the breakaway. It would be more about mental resilience than physical. The wind wasn’t strong enough to break it. In the Tour de France peloton you have the best 170 riders in the world, all in the best form, all hoping for it not to be on the wrong side of the split.
Cavendish on the challenge of the route and crosswinds
Brief analysis
- Philipsen’s relegation will have a massive effect on the green jersey standings. Before his relegation he was only 11 points behind classification leader Girmay, but post-penalty he’s much further back. The relegation not only cost Philipsen the points he earned, but also elevated Girmay from third to second. The Eritrean winner of stage 3 now leads 149-111 over Mads Pedersen; after losing both the points from his placing today and getting a penalty, last year’s green jersey winner is a distant fourth, with 85 points.
- On replay, Philipsen’s deviation is subtle – more of a drift than a swerve – but after criticism of his and Alpecin’s sprinting last year, he’s not getting any benefit of the doubt from the race jury. And the sprinters in general are on notice this year as Phil Bauhaus was relegated on stage 5 and commissaires reportedly warned the field this morning about irregular sprints. The first casualty of that warning came quickly, it turned out.
- Even before the relegation, with three sprint finishes now in the books it’s clear that Alpecin and especially Philipsen simply aren’t clicking yet like they were in 2023. Philipsen was caught in the crash on stage 3 and didn’t have the benefit of a textbook leadout on stage 5, but today the team lined things up perfectly for him and Groenewegen was simply faster. Philipsen isn’t far off; he was second again before his relegation, but he’s not quite the overwhelming force he was last year.
- After Visma shut down the attempt to split the race and the field came back together, it was clear the appetite for any further shenanigans was sated and the field was setting up for a sprint. While the crosswinds were persistent, the pack spread across the road in a clear blocking maneuver to prevent other teams from pushing the pace, or a late break going clear. For long stretches from about 40 km to 10 km to go – when the leadouts started driving – riders from as many as eight teams spread across the front of the race in disciplined, tight rows.
Up next
Friday is a critical individual time trial stage, a 25.3 km ride from Nuits-Saint-Georges to Gevrey-Chambertin. The route has one relatively short climb (1.6 km at 6.5%) but will provide opportunities for both specialists and GC contenders for the stage win and to reshuffle the overall standings.
Further reading
- Speaking of TT day, overall leader Tadej Pogačar and his UAE Team Emirates technical sponsors have spared no expense or detail looking for every possible advantage. Ronan Mc Laughlin looks at his “maximal hack” TT bike setup.
- Philiipsen’s is the second relegation on Tour in as many days after Bauhaus’ penalty on stage 5. How are penalties for irregular sprints decided, and why are some riders disqualified while others are only relegated? Read our explainer for the details.
- It’s all eyes on the Tour this week, but Sunday the Giro d’Italia Women starts, and Abby Mickey has the full route preview, with a look at the contenders coming soon.
Did we do a good job with this story?