Philipsen victory on stage 17
Belgian Jasper Philipsen capped a great performance by his Alpecin-Premier Tech team by winning the 17th stage of the Tour de France on Wednesday. His teammate Mathieu van der Poel controlled the pace in the final kilometers and contained the counterattacks to guide him to his first victory in this edition.
Philipsen narrowly beat Mauro Schmid and Olav Kooij. After the finish line, he described a “rollercoaster of emotions” due to a disappointing start to the Tour for him:
“I prepared very, very well. I was in the shape of my life, I think, and the first stages, the first 12 days were just horrible. I couldn’t find myself, I couldn’t find the sensations that I expected.”
He thanked his teammates: “I was like an angry bird at the table. I was disappointed in myself, angry because I couldn’t get a stage victory. This one is for them, so they can keep believing.”
Pogacar maintains the lead
Slovenia’s Tadej Pogacar, seeking his third consecutive title, protected his lead of more than 4 and a half minutes over Remco Evenepoel. However, his teammate Adam Yates suffered: he collapsed over the handlebars, exhausted, and barely made it within the time limit. Mexican Isaac del Toro, also from UAE Emirates XRG, remains third overall, 6:51 behind the leader.
The 174.7 km route from Chambery to Voiron was the last favorable one for sprinters before the Alps. Several escape attempts marked the day. Van der Poel joined the leaders after the last climb and, after several attacks, Stuyven escaped alone 26 km from the finish, but was caught less than 4 km from the finish. Van der Poel did the rest for Philipsen.
In the fight for the green jersey, Philipsen has 445 points, behind Mads Pedersen (452) and ahead of Biniam Girmay (361). There are four stages left, the last on Sunday in Paris.
The International Cycling Union (UCI) responded to criticism over surprise anti-doping controls, after Pogacar and Jonas Vingegaard were woken up at dawn for tests. Vingegaard fell on Sunday’s stage and abandoned. The UCI acknowledged that night testing “can disrupt the rest and recovery of riders” and noted that it remains an exceptional measure.
