Jasper Philipsen had a disappointing start to the Tour de France but is now up to speed. Alpecin-Deceuninck lost two riders the day before and committed much less to trying to reach a sprint on stage 13, but the Belgian sprinter managed to benefit from the work of other teams to snatch the victory at the end of a chaotic day in Pau.
“It was full throttle from the start, the peloton never stopped. There were echelons and a large group came up front. We had two riders with us, with Mathieu [van der Poel] and Axel Laurance. I thought they would make it, but the peloton just kept going," Philipsen said in a post-race interview. "I kept believing in it myself, because the feeling was good, much better than in the past weeks.”
Alpecin had Silvan Dillier work a bit in the final hours of racing but their bet was on the early attacks of the stage. Philipsen remained in the peloton as it split time and time again throughout the stage that featured a lot of wind and small ascents. In the final sprint he was not perfectly placed, but a mistake from the Visma leadout saw him in perfect place for the sprint, coming from the back with speed and managing to hold off Wout van Aert.
“I had my best day so far in this Tour de France. We did not have the best start. In terms of feeling and with some bad luck," he admits. He managed to also close the gap in the green jersey to 75 points behind Biniam Girmay. "But I am happy that we were able to turn it around. With two stage wins, it is not a bad Tour. Do I want more? You always want more. But you have to take it day by day and enjoy today's gains."
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