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After all the controversy and disappointment of the first week, Jasper Philipsen took victory at the Tour de France on Stage 10, following a textbook lead from reigning world champion Mathieu Van der Poel and Alpecin-Deceaninck.
Ultimately victory went to the best sprinter of last year’s Tour, with him hitting the wind in the last few hundred meters and the difference in power so clear to second-place Biniyam Girmay (Intermarche-Vanti). Laine, who continued his fine form ahead of Pascal Ackerman (Israel-Premier Tech) in third place.
Alpecin led into the final few crucial corners, although with some intrusion from Christophe Laporte (Visma–Lease A Bike), who was guiding Wout van Aert after not getting it quite right on four sprint occasions last week. , he guided Philipson to his seventh Tour de France stage win.
“Last week was not a good week. It was an endless week for us, of course with some bad luck, but I am really happy and feel great relief. We can finally show our strength together with the lead-out train. I think, yes, we finally did what we came for, and yes, we can make it. It was a perfect job by the team,” a relieved Philipson said after the race, praising his teammates.
“We know the corner was quite difficult, but we had everything. Everyone was growing during this tour. Maybe we didn’t start off in our best condition, but we all feel healthy, we feel good. I’m really happy that we can start the second week with a win and there are still some good stages to come.”
With Girmay finishing second, it is making the Belgian less likely to win the green jersey with a flat finish every time, but he will only focus on getting more wins and adding to the seven he already has .
“(Girmay) is having a really strong tour so far. He’s a lot of points ahead, so I think we just try to focus on a stage win, which we succeeded in,” said Phillipson. “Now we are just waiting for the next steps, and we will try as best we can. Then we’ll see where we can get.”
Behind Philipsen and the sprinters was a group that enjoyed almost a second rest day for 95% of the 187.3 km on stage 10. Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates) arrived safely to capture the yellow jersey along with second-placed Remco Evenepoel (Soudal-). QuickStep) and the rest of the GC favorites.
Their time will come in tomorrow’s Stage 11, when the race takes on an extremely tough mountain day and the first of the second week in the Massif Central, culminating with the backloaded climb of Le Lioran after gaining more than 4,000 meters of altitude over 211km. ,
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As racing resumed for a second week in the Tour de France, the effects of an exciting but exhausting first nine stages were perhaps taking their toll, with no one in sight for the early breakaway when race director Christian Prudhomme waved the flag at kilometer zero. Was not going to take it.
Everyone in the peloton was smiling and chatting during the opening stage heading south from Orléans, with the host broadcaster even tagging Pogcar and Vingegaard as swans swimming away from the roads while they watched the action. Were waiting for.
The intermediate sprint in Romorantin-Lanthenay gave Kobe Goossens (Intermarche-Vanti) the chance to accelerate with Harm Vanhoucke (Lotto Dustany) up the road. Another trio of Kevin Geniets, Valentin Madaus (Groupama–FDJ) and Brent Van Moer (Lotto Destany) chased the pair for a while, but the Alpecin–Deceninck led peloton passed them before the 130 km sprint. left back.
Goossens and Vanhoucke scored maximum points as former teammate Girmay tried to defend his lead of the green jersey in the sprint. The double stage winner tried to get past Philipsen’s wheel and kick up his inside, but was overwhelmed by shrinking barriers and forced to brake.
With the Belgians looking ominously fast and that tension point gone, calm returned to the 172 riders on board the Tour, where they rode much slower than the predicted fastest speed for the next 70 kilometres.
Crosswind action was possible on exposed roads throughout the Centre-Val de Loire region, but this did not occur to the teams until the 59km mark, where a crucial left-hand turn through Issoudun sent everyone into a tailspin.
The GC teams and teams with sprinters moved towards the front in anticipation of the direction change, with UAE, Wisma and Astana all among the most active teams.
The speed was increased to about 70 kilometers per hour and the herd was driven out, but roadside flags showed that the wind was not strong enough to stop people. When the turn came and everyone realized that it was not possible, the speed was reduced by 20 kilometers per hour.
Calmness was restored again and all eyes were on the final race towards Saint-Amand-Montrond and the final few kilometers of stage 10, where key corners would decide the winner of the day’s action.
Six kilometers from the line a small unclassified climb began where no one was dropped, but the speed of the descent was such that the peloton left the line and the riders began to struggle. Philipsen lost his position momentarily but regained control of Alpecin’s part of the train where Van der Poel was.
With the final approach looming, the washing machine effect was running well in front of the peloton, with the likes of EF Education–EasyPost and Israel–Premier Tech taking over the top spots as the race reached Saint-Amand–Montrond. .
But as the crucial trio of corners approached the final 2km, the gray double-denim and rainbow bands of Alpesin-Deceaninck’s lead-out train appeared, which they did very well in 2023 and reached pole position before the final sprint . ,
In dominant position Philipson proved that the momentum was certainly not lost as when he launched his final kick, he moved away from those in his slipstream and onto the lead to start a blazing second week at the 2024 Tour de France. Came on the line.
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