Tourreporter
Belgian Jasper Phlipsen celebrates his fourth stage win in the Tour de France in Moulins. The other sprinters have no choice but to acknowledge his superiority.
One after the other, the frustrated rolled through the finish area of the 11th stage of the Tour de France in Moulins: The pitiable European champion Fabio Jakobsen, whose face clearly shows how much he is tormented by this tour. Australia’s Caleb Ewan, who somehow lost the thread in the sprint finishes after starting second and third once.
Or the German sprinter Phil Bauhaus, who also seems exhausted but hasn’t lost his optimism. And Dylan Groenewegen, who really believed in it this time. “This time it will work, it will work, it will work,” said the Dutchman about his thoughts on the last 150 meters. Groenewegen was still in the lead with the finish line in sight: “But then he overtook me.”
Philipsen manages without van der Poel this time
He is Jasper Philipsen – the fastest sprinter in this Tour de France, who has already won his fourth sprint in Moulins. Only on the 8th stage to Limoges with an uphill home straight did he lose out to the Dane Mads Pedersen. In the case of the flat target arrivals, however, he leaves the competitors at a loss, as in Moulins.
This time the Belgian even managed without his driver Mathieu van der Poel, who had excellently passed him his first three stage wins. But van der Poel doesn’t seem to be feeling very well at the moment, which is why he missed this time for preparation. Philipsen therefore had to find his own way this time and finally managed to jump on Groenewegen’s rear wheel.
On the way there, Philipsen had fought for this position with Phil Bauhaus and prevailed at the second attempt. The sprint was so brilliant that Groenewegen finished second, one wheel length behind. “You just have to admit that Philipsen is faster,” said Bauhaus, who sprinted to third place in Moulins for the second time on this tour. When Philipsen started his sprint, he no longer resisted because he realized “there’s nothing more to do,” says Bauhaus.
Fabio Jakobsen is disillusioned
Nothing is currently working for Fabio Jakobsen either. The Dutchman had messed up the sprint on Stage 3 of the Tour and had a pretty bad fall in the final a day later. Since then he has been fighting more for getting through than for sprint victories.
At Moulins he had finished 16th despite his team helping to control the race all day so there could be a bunch sprint. Jakobsen preferred not to talk about it later. Instead, his athletic director Tom Steels gave an insight into his state of mind. “He’s not angry, just disillusioned with the fact that he can’t be part of the decision,” Steels said.
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Jakobsen wonders whether it makes any sense for him to continue. In the past few days, he has found it difficult to stay within the time limit when the profile has become more difficult. And while there is another moderately difficult stage on Thursday (07/13/2023), it’s off to the high mountains for five days. Steels said in Moulins that his sprinter definitely wants to last until Paris. But it is a big challenge, both physically and mentally.
Three more chances for the sprinters
The other sprinters will also have to face this challenge in the hope that a remedy against Philipsen can be found on the few occasions that the fast-paced cyclists still have on this tour. Realistically, there are still three chances for the sprinters on this tour. But they only come a long way in the third week, when fatigue causes the sprints to be different than at the beginning of the tour. And then of course on the last day in Paris.
Philipsen celebrated one of his two stage wins there last year. “None of this comes out of nowhere,” said Philipsen when asked how he explained his dominance. “I worked hard on myself, the whole team worked hard,” he explained. In the weeks leading up to the tour, he trained more in the mountains than in his sprints.
Groenewegen still believes in it
He did well with that and with every success his self-confidence increased to the same extent as the frustration of his competitors. Even in the fight for the green jersey for the best points, Philipsen can probably only be stopped by misfortune or illness. His advantage over the runner-up in this ranking, Frenchman Brian Coquard, is already 145 points.
The other sprinters sometimes only have optimism. “We will definitely not give up,” said Bauhaus’ teammate Nikias Arndt. And Groenewegen apparently still believes in it. “You can beat him, I’m sure of that,” he said at Moulins. But he had already thought there that it would work this time – wrongly.
