NOGARO – At the Paul-Armagnac circuit, winner Jasper Philipsen thought he was a racing car in the chicanes and on the long straight towards the checkered flag.
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Without lying, it took a bit of patience to see the show come to life, but in a crescendo, the crazed handlebars upped the pressure a little until their tires touched the circuit’s tarmac, safe from the debris of the motorized tests was exempt.
Despite some tight corners, the many falls tended to happen in relatively safe wide sections. This time, the route studied in advance had nothing to do with these accidents.
With European Champion Fabio Jakobsen on the ground, Jasper Philipsen won the fourth consecutive mass sprint at the Tour de France a day after his triumph in Bayonne and a year after his successes in Carcassonne and on the Champs-Élysées.
AFP
An identical scene
Again well hidden behind his teammate Mathieu Van der Poel, the king of the sprint put his nose to the wind with just 150 meters to go by crossing to the right. In this meticulous exercise, the move is paramount and Alpecin made no mistake.
Third at Bayonne on Monday, Caleb Ewan missed his chance by finishing second ahead of Paul Bauhaus, who also finished on the podium the day before.
“Caleb was right next to me. I wasn’t that confident. He caught up with me at the end, it was really very nervous. I am very proud to have won twice in a row. “The finish was very fast, we felt like we were in a racing car,” said winner Philipsen, pleased to have avoided the accident.
still frustrated
Bryan Coquard (Cofidis), well led by Alexis Renard, took 4th place. In six Tour de France appearances since 2014, Coquard has finished in the top ten stages more than ten times without ever winning his bouquet.
The peloton awaiting the next two days in the Pyrenees clearly didn’t want to ruin the bike by wasting cartridges unnecessarily. Even the description struggled to convey the almost nonexistent action as for a very rare time no cyclist tried their luck on a breakaway early in the stage.
On the flat roads of the Landes and Gers, the Alpecin and Lotto teams completed the scenario by almost using a Denver shoe to prevent others from driving.
The first 95 kilometers were covered at a very moderate pace, averaging 37 km/h.
AFP
Woods waits his turn
The intermediate sprint from Notre-Dame des Cyclistes at 88 kilometers for Jasper Philipsen, who secured his green jersey by persisting in front of his opponents. The 25-year-old Belgian is unbeatable on the pedals and is perhaps the fastest in the world today.
His momentum allowed the two Frenchmen from Normandy, Benoît Cosnefroy (AG2R Citroën) and Anthony Delaplace (Arkea-Samsic) to put a little meat on a bone too thin to eat by going a small gap of 40 seconds managed. Even in front of the camera wheel, Cosnefroy said he didn’t know why he was leading the race with his partner. Nevertheless, he was awarded the “Fighting Spirit of the Day” award for his efforts. Any visit to the podium must not be neglected.
In the overall standings, Adam Yates retains the yellow jersey and Canadian Michael Woods remains in 7th place.
DAX-NOGARO – 182 KM
