Jasper Philipsen wins second straight Tour de France stage
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Belgian rider Jasper Philipsen (far left) of team Alpecin-Deceuninck beating Australian rider Caleb Ewan of team Lotto Dstny to win the 4th stage of the Tour de France 2023, a 181,8km race from Dax to Nogaro, France, on Tuesday.
PHOTO: EPA-EFE
NOGARO, FRANCE – Jasper Philipsen won a second consecutive stage of the Tour de France in a sprint at the Nogaro race track on Tuesday marred by three high-speed falls.
The Alpecin-Deceuninck rider finished Stage 4 at a speed of over 67kmh and took the overall lead in the sprint-points battle after pipping Caleb Ewan and Phil Bauhaus.
Said Philipsen: “It was a really easy stage. I think everyone was trying to save some legs for the Pyrenees tomorrow. In the final kilometre entering the circuit, I heard several crashes around me, so I hope everybody is OK and safe.
“It was a bit of a hectic final with the turns and I lost my team as well, but in the final straight I found Mathieu van der Poel again and he did an amazing pull to get me to victory. My legs were cramping and Caleb was coming close...
“Caleb was next to me, he was close to beating me in the end. It’s very special to win twice in a row.”
British veteran Mark Cavendish came fifth as he continued to face frustration in his quest for a 35th Tour de France stage win to break the all-time record he shares with Eddy Merckx.
The 38-year-old finished sixth in Monday’s third stage, and then said he picked the wrong wheel to follow.
In the shockingly accident-filled finish, the peloton sped around a motorbike racetrack, where there was a string of crashes on the rounded chicanes.
Tour medics have confirmed two riders broke collar bones.
“Carnage it was,” said the Astana rider Cavendish.
“Every team will have had a plan for that final and I bet there wasn’t any that it went right for, apart from Jumbo getting their guys into that narrow road (at the entrance to the race circuit) early.
“It was a melting pot of riders in the final and I was constantly analysing who was there, who had other teammates and just jumping from train to train.
“Finally, I saw that Mads (Pedersen) had (Jasper) Stuyven with him and they usually go early, so I thought I’d use that, but it didn’t happen.
“In the end, the rest of them got the jump on me and it was all about me getting the best finishing position for myself.”
Adam Yates leads Tadej Pogacar, the 2020 and 2021 Tour winner and his UAE Emirates teammate, in the overall standings by six seconds with his twin brother Simon in third place, also six seconds off the pace.
Defending champion Jonas Vingegaard is sixth, 11 seconds further back.
The Tour’s first massive mountain stage awaits the peloton on Wednesday with around 30km of climbing at an average gradient of over 7 per cent. AFP, REUTERS
