Tour de France 2023: Jasper Philipsen makes it four with dominant sprint win on Stage 11

It looks increasingly like no one is going to be able to beat Jasper Philipsen in a bunch sprint in this year’s Tour de France. For a fourth time this July, Belgium’s Philipsen (Alpecin-Deceuninck) powered over the finish line quicker than any of his rivals – this time beating a frustrated Dylan Groenewegen (Jayco-AlUla) to the spoils.

After launching early, Dutchman Groenewegen faded to take second place over a bike length back with Germany’s Phil Bauhaus (Bahrain Victorious) third ahead of France’s Bryan Coquard (Cofidis) and Denmark’s Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek).

Australia’s Caleb Ewan (Lotto Dstny) and Belgium’s Fabio Jakobsen (Soudal-QuickStep) could only finish fifteenth and sixteenth despite the hard work carried out by their teams throughout the 180km stage from Clermont-Ferrand.

Another Belgian, Wout van Aert, also benefited from a solid lead-out from his Jumbo-Visma team-mates but was unable to finish higher than ninth place as Philipsen’s dominance in the 110th edition of the Tour continued unchecked.

Ironically enough, Philipsen’s latest win came without the luxury of a lead-out by his team-mate Mathieu van der Poel, the Dutchman feeling under the weather following his exertions in the breakaway one day earlier.

“It’s an incredible Tour so far – I can’t realise how it’s going,” the 25-year-old Philipsen said. “I’m just super proud. One win is already a big challenge, but we have now done it four times.” The first rider to win four stages in a single stage since Mark Cavendish in 2021 now leads Coquard in the green jersey standings by a whopping 145 points.

On a day of relative rest for the general classification favourites, Denmark’s Jonas Vingegaard (Jumbo-Visma) retained his 17-second lead over Slovenia’s Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates) ahead of a tough, undulating stage through the Rhone on Thursday.

A day of little drama but simmering tension started with an almost accidental attack from Costa Rica’s Andrey Amador (EF Education-EasyPost), who hedged his bets with an early dig from the gun – but found himself very much in the minority.

Just as Amador looked to be sitting up, he was joined by reinforcements as Italy’s Daniel Oss (TotalEnergies) and France’s Matis Louvel (Arkea-Samsic) bridged over to give fresh impetus into a move looking to defy the inevitable: a bunch sprint in Moulins.

Such was the relaxed nature of the first half of the stage that UAE Team Emirates’ sporting director even had a little fun on the radio with an apparent coded message that turned out to be a practical joke.

“Okay, guys, now we do Plan C. Everybody jump the tiger – when the crocodile starts to swim, you jump,” he said, much to the mirth of the commentary box on what proved a long day for those watching at home.

The trio’s lead never crept over the three-minute mark as the teams of the sprinters kept a lid on the gap to ensure no complications in the event of poor weather hampering the finale.

None of the day’s three fourth-category climbs proved sufficient an obstacle to entice any counterattacks or trouble. Instead, it was the looming rain clouds and blustery conditions which had a far larger bearing on the race – especially once the heavens momentarily opened as the race passed through Montlucon with 80km remaining.

The peloton was on red alert as the wind increased going over the exposed summit of the third and final climb, with the teams of the GC favourites – notably Ineos Grenadiers and Jumbo-Visma – flocking to the front to ensure no move was missed.

Louvel was first to throw in the towel shortly before Amador gave Oss a fist-pump and a big smile, then dropped back to the peloton, leaving the Italian veteran to plough a lonely furrow with 50km remaining. Oss managed to extend his lead from 20 seconds to 45 seconds but was eventually brought to heel after the heavens opened inside the final 15km.

Soudal-QuickStep and Lotto Dstny were in the thick of things as the peloton rampaged into Moulins – although their sprinters Jakobsen and Ewan were incapable of hitting their previous highs in the finale.

Instead it was the Jayco-AlUla team of Groenewegen who looked most likely to end Philipsen’s reign. But the Dutchman was launched by team-mate Luka Mezgec too early and he was left to rue another missed opportunity as a green bullet surged passed him with metres to spare to make it four from four in flat bunch sprints.

The Tour continues on Thursday with an intriguing 169km Stage 12 from Roanne to Belleville-en-Beaujolais that has breakaway written all over it with five punchy categorised climbs and a ramped finale.

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