Jasper Philipsen took place in the modern history of the Tour de France as he became the second active rider with at least four stage wins in a single Tour after Mark Cavendish. Philipsen won the final sprint in much the same way he has throughout this Tour, by following one of his fellow sprinters.
Dylan Groenewegen got the best lead out and launched the sprint but Philipsen followed his slipstream in the absence of his lead out guy, Mathieu van der Poel. The Belgian passed him to score his fourth stage win this year. Jonas Vingegaard retained the Yellow Jersey, and Daniel Oss won most combative rider for the day.
The Deets
Andrey Amador (EF Education-EasyPost) was first out of the peloton, although at a slow speed. Two riders joined him: Tony Gallopin (Lidl-Trek) and Matîs Louvel (Arkea-Samsic). Gallopin sat up but Daniel Oss (TotalEnergies) made the jump. This leading trio easily took some advantage to reach a maximum of 3’20’’ at km 25 where Alpecin-Deceuninck decided to pull the pace the peloton. The teams of the top sprinters left with no win in the first four bunch gallops, namely Jayco-AlUla, Lotto-Dstny and Soudal-Quick, respectively for Dylan Groenewegen, Caleb Ewan and Fabio Jakobsen.
Oss Ahead until 13.5 KM to the Finish
The peloton delayed regrouping as long as they could, but crosswinds led GC teams to speed up in their move to position their captains close to the front. With 54 km to go, Louvel sat up, so did Amador 5 km further. Oss remained alone in front. He forged on even when the rain started. The Italian veteran was reeled in at 13.5 km before the end. Soudal-Quick positioned Fabio Jakobsen at the front with 10 km remaining.
Philipsen Wins Again
Jumbo-Visma took over from the sprinters’ teams, mostly to keep Jonas Vingegaard out of trouble until 3 km to go, but also to pave the way for Wout van Aert. Dylan Groenewegen got the best lead out and launched the sprint but Philipsen followed in his slipstream in the absence of his lead out guy, Mathieu van der Poel. The Belgian passed him to score his fourth stage win this year.
