"I can also win without him, but with him it's a lot easier" - Jasper Philipsen proves he can do it without Mathieu van der Poel on stage 11 of the Tour de France

There is seemingly no stopping Jasper Philipsen at the 2023 Tour de France. 11 stages down, 4 of them have finished with the Belgian crossing the line with his arms aloft.

Whilst many have credited Philipsen's dominance with the supreme leadouts given to him by Alpecin-Deceuninck teammate Mathieu van der Poel, on stage 11 Philipsen had to go it alone. "I can also win without him, but with him it's a lot easier, finding the right wheel and finding the space," he said in his post-stage interview. "I'm glad I was able to find Dylan Groenewegen's wheel and that he started early, so I could get over him."

Becoming the first person since Mark Cavendish to win four stages of a single Tour de France, the race has surely gone better than Philipsen could have imagined in even his wildest pre-race dreams. "It's been a great Tour so far. I don't really realize how well it's all going and I'm just super proud of my condition and that I get through all those finals without any problems," he recaps. "It's a huge challenge every time and we've now succeeded four times in a row, so I'm super happy with that."

“There are still opportunities, but more and more riders will also try to be in the breakaway. I am already so happy with four stage victories and hopefully we can go to Paris with this green jersey," the Belgian concludes. "I have a big gap, so I can comfortably go into the Alps."