The St. Gallen coach expressed praise for the new Benfica coach.
The St. Gallen coach expressed praise for the new Benfica coach.
Belgian rider from the Alpecin - Premier Tech team, Jasper Philipsen, secured a convincing victory on the 17th stage of the 113th Tour de France, thereby ending a long period of poor results.
On the alpine 17th stage on Tuesday, Philipsen achieved a dominant victory in the bunch sprint. This win was the result of strong support from his former teammate and current world champion, Mathieu van der Poel. Philipsen finished several bicycle lengths ahead of Mauro Schmid and Olaf Kuy, who had previously won stages at the Tour de France.
This success marks the eleventh Tour de France victory for Philipsen overall. The twenty-eight-year-old Belgian previously won the 'green' points jersey in 2023. Thanks to this victory, he managed to win at least one stage in each of the last five Tours de France series. He admitted that previous attempts were disappointing, noting that he was fit but failed to find his form on the first stage. After 17 stages, the team managed to achieve a victory.
In some of these unsuccessful attempts, Van der Poel tried to prepare him, but often did so too early, causing Philipsen to be ambushed and overtaken before the finish line, most often by his compatriot Tim Merlier. However, Merlier left the Tour several days earlier due to an inability to maintain pace on the difficult mountain stage. This time, Philipsen proved his speed on the 174.7-kilometer stage from Chambéry to Beaurendon.
According to Van der Poel, the day was very tough, and Philipsen simply tried to stay in front, getting into every important group, after which everything worked out in favor of victory. He also noted that the presence of Edward Plankert in the front group helped make the victory more attainable. The 50 points earned by Philipsen brought him closer to Dan Mads Pedersen, another former world champion, in the race for the 'green' points jersey by only seven points. The race leader and defending champion Tadej Pogačar finished in the main peloton just under nine minutes later. Nevertheless, Pogačar had one concern: his teammate from UAE Emirates-XRG, Adam Yates, who is a key helper in the mountains, had stomach problems the day before and lagged significantly, finishing more than 26 minutes behind Philipsen.
The day presented a tense and chaotic race. It took over 100 kilometers for the breakaway to consolidate, after which six riders established an advantage at the start of the race. Among them was Pedersen, who aimed to earn the maximum number of points in the intermediate sprint 27 km from the finish. He successfully won this sprint, but almost immediately Jasper Stuyven attacked and broke away from his companions. Behind them, a large group including Philipsen and Kuy continued to build momentum and soon caught up with the other five riders. Stuyven continued to fight but was stopped less than 4 km from the finish line. After this, Van der Poel worked tirelessly to prevent anyone from breaking away, and then he had the energy to prepare his teammate from Alpecin Premier Tech for the victory.
