Jasper Philipsen ended his frustration at this year’s Tour de France with victory from a reduced sprint on stage 17 as Tadej Pogacar stayed safe in the yellow jersey.
Philipsen repeatedly fell short in bunch sprints over the first two weeks of this Tour but made it look easy in Voiron after a 35-strong breakaway arrived first into town.
With Alpecin-Premier Tech team-mate Mathieu van der Poel providing the lead-out, Philipsen finished several bike lengths ahead of Mauro Schmid and Olav Kooij to take his 11th career Tour stage win, having won one in each edition since 2022.
“Definitely (it’s special) after such a roller coaster of emotions in this Tour de France,” Philipsen said.
“I had to wait until stage 17. I was prepared very, very well, I was in the shape of my life and the first 12 days were just horrible. I couldn’t find myself, I couldn’t find the feeling I was hoping for.
“After 17 stages to take the victory is really one for the team that kept on believing in me. I just want to thank everybody.
“I was like an angry bird at the table. I was disappointed in myself, I was angry, I couldn’t take a stage win, I didn’t find my feeling and the team had to deal with that. Not only the riders but the staff as well. This one is for them, to keep on believing and keep fighting until stage 17.”
Philipsen’s win saw him move to within seven points of Mads Pedersen in the points classification, putting the Dane under serious pressure in a competition he had looked in charge of.
The main general classification hopefuls had allowed the breakaway to get free midway through the 175km stage from Chambery, with overall leader Pogacar and closest challenger Remco Evenepoel crossing the line eight minutes 46 seconds later.
There was no change at the top of the general classification, where Pogacar leads by four minutes 32 seconds from Evenepoel.
However, there was some bad news for Pogacar with his team-mate and key mountain domestique Adam Yates suffering from illness, having to battle just to finish the stage.
Away from the race itself, the fallout continued from the overnight anti-doping tests carried out over the weekend, which caused particular controversy after two-time Tour winner Jonas Vingegaard crashed out of the race on Sunday after being woken at 2am. He has since undergone successful surgery on a fractured collarbone.
The Cyclistes Professionnels Associes had responded by questioning the “relevance” of such tests, saying: “It is clear that this practice hinders athletes’ recovery during the most important and difficult race on the global calendar and runs counter to the intended objectives.”
On Wednesday world governing body the UCI responded, backing the methods of the International Testing Agency that undertook the tests, and saying it wished to “reaffirm that the fight against doping is an absolute priority”.
The statement added: “The UCI of course acknowledges that night-time testing can disrupt riders’ rest and recovery, and wishes to reiterate that carrying out such controls outside normal hours remains an exceptional measure, reserved for limited and justified circumstances.”
