photo credits @ Le Tour
Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Deceuninck) finally ended his Tour de France slump after winning stage 10 in Saint-Amand-Montrond today.
The Belgian rider, who had been relegated in a sprint earlier in week one, finally claimed his first stage of this year’s French Grand Tour after beating Biniam Girmay (Intermarché-Wanty) and Pascal Ackermann (Israel-Premier Tech) to the line.
Philipsen benefited from a near-perfect lead-out from his team, with Mathieu van der Poel dropping him off in the final 150 meters. From there, the sprint specialist moved to the right-hand side of the road as he came around his teammate and opened up his launch, eventually winning with a huge margin over his rival for the green jersey, Girmay.
Meanwhile, Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates) finished safely in the peloton to retain his yellow jersey and overall lead in the race ahead of Remco Evenepoel (Soudal Quick-Step) in second.
Race Highlights
172 riders were on the start line in Orleans, ready to do battle over the 187.3 km route from Orleans to Saint-Amand-Montrond.
Philipsen first in intermediate bunch sprint
A brief excursion for two teams with intermediate sprint interests saw Intermarche – Wanty’s Kobe Goossens and Lotto Dstny’s Harm Vanhoucke and Maxim Van Gils break clear. Van Gils soon sat up, but Goossens reached the point of the intermediate sprint first, followed by Vanhoucke.
No major disruptions caused by crosswinds
Crosswinds agitated the peloton’s passage through Issoudun, but they were not fierce enough to disrupt the progress of the sprinter teams, with the stage ultimately culminating into a bunch sprint for an exciting finale in Saint-Amand-Montrond, with Philipsen proving too powerful for his rivals.
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