Tour de France: Robbie McEwen blasts ‘stupid’ decision as Jasper Philipsen escapes punishment for ‘block’

The Belgian wanted to ensure a bunch sprint on Thursday’s stage, meaning he was reluctant to allow a big group up the road. So when Eenkhoorn darted off the front of the peloton in a bid to join a three-man breakaway with 79km remaining, he was not impressed.

Philipsen chased down the Dutchman’s attack before aggressively cutting across him, forcing his rival to brake hard to avoid crashing.

It was labelled a “bullying tactic” by Israel–Premier Tech rider Daryl Impey on Eurosport’s coverage on Thursday, with the topic surfacing again ahead of Stage 19 after race commissaires decided against punishing Philipsen for his aggression.

“No sanctions, no points deduction, no fine, no warning, nothing whatsoever. I just can’t believe it,” Dan Lloyd said on The Breakaway.

“What sort of message does that send out to all the junior racers who are looking on at that and thinking ‘oh okay, it’s alright to intimidate another rider’. I just think it’s utterly ridiculous.”

Philipsen was chasing a remarkable fifth win at the 2023 Tour. He simply needs to stay upright to win the sprinters’ points classification on Sunday.

“It was never going to affect his gap in the points competition or the likelihood of him winning it in Paris on Sunday,” added Lloyd.

“The fine wouldn’t have mattered to the team really. But I just think a message needed to be sent out that that sort of thing is not acceptable.”

Robbie McEwen was also stunned at the lack of action.

“I can’t believe they didn’t do anything,” said the 12-time Tour stage winner.

“[Jonas] Abrahamsen, who was in the break all day, got fined for urinating in public. I mean the guy’s in the break, it’s not like he can say ‘we’ve got a minute gap on the peloton, I’m just going to pull over in this quiet part of the forest because I need a nature break’.

“Such nit-picking when they let something like the Philipsen incident go is mindboggling. It is stupid.”

However Philipsen, speaking to Eurosport ahead of Friday’s stage to Poligny, defended his actions.

“I think it was clear we wanted a controllable group. But I think the situation has been exaggerated a bit, it’s completely not aggressive intentions,” he told Eurosport ahead of Stage 19.