Jasper Philipsen looking to strike on rare sprint opportunity: "I'm on a good level but there's not been many chances for us"

Alpecin-Deceuninck came to the Tour with high and realistic ambitions to take a stage win, however the race has so far not been favourable for the team which has seen Mathieu van der Poel abandon earlier in the race, and Jasper Philipsen having little opportunities to succeed.

"My form is still good, I'm still healthy so I'm looking forward to Sunday," Philipsen told reporters at the start of stage 14. "I told the team that we could try for something on Friday, too, but not all the teams had the same opinion and that was a bit shit," he said.

Alpecin-Deceuninck was the team who put in the most effort on stage 13 where Mads Pedersen eluded the peloton alongside a strong breakaway to take the win. With few sprint opportunities, it was a wasted opportunity for Philipsen. He's got three more stages where chances exist, however the task will be very complicated taking into account the competition he will have to be facing in each of them.

"I'm on a good level but there's not been many chances for us, and things haven't worked out in our favour. Hopefully that'll change in the last week," he added. Today's stage into Carcassonne is a possibility, however the gruelling heat and rolling terrain will make it very difficult once again for the sprinters to have the chance to fight for the win. 

Asked where he'd love to have his Tour de France win, Philipsen answered: "If I could choose one, it'd be the Champs Elysées. But waiting to win until that last day would make for even more stress".