Jasper Philipsen takes photo finish victory in crash marred sprint on stage 4 of the Tour de France
Cycling
In the second successive bunch sprint as this year's edition of the Tour de France it was - who proved to be the fastest in the peloton in a crash-marred finale for his second straight victory.
The Tour de France has settled down after an explosive weekend, and stage 4 should see a second bunch sprint after Jasper Philipsen rode to victory on the first one of this year's race, on yesterday's stage 3.
Somewhat strangely, there was no one interested in forming an early breakaway. As such the peloton rolled along for the first half of the stage at a pace that could best be describes as casual.
With just over 120km to go though the race suddenly ignited with Wout van Aert on the front setting an infernal pace. Those riders who had been taking it easy and trying not to fall asleep were suddenly at risk of being caught out.
A few kilometres later, it was all calmed down with the elastic not having snapped, although the calm of the early portion of the stage had somewhat lessened.
Jasper Philipsen took the maximum points in the intermediate sprint ahead of Bryan Coquard in second and Caleb Ewan in third.
Then finally, a couple of riders did decide to go up the road, Benoît Cosnefroy (AG2R Citroën Team) and Anthony Delaplace (Team Arkéa Samsic).
With 25km to go they were reeled back in by the peloton and once again there was an early focus on preparing the sprint trains.
For the second straight day, the fight for position was a fierce one with numerous teams both sprint-focused and GC-focused all wanting to hold the front of the bunch.
There was absolute chaos caused by a pair of roundabouts on either side of the 5km to go marker with some of the trains being scattered.
All the main GC riders were successfully and safely guided through the 3km.
Onto the racetrack with 2.3km to go and it was Bahrain - Victorious on the front with Matej Mohoric. Then there was disaster for Fabio Jakobsen as he hit the deck hard.
As the sprints opened up, there were two further crashes but in the final it was a photo finish between Jasper Philipsen and Caleb Ewan. Philipsen taking it.
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Kieran WoodDeputy Editor-in-Chief
Kieran Wood is a sports journalist based in Wales and has been active in journalism since 2022. He regularly contributes to DartsNews.com and CyclingUpToDate.com, where he covers professional cycling and darts. In cycling, his work includes liveblogs from major races, including the Tour de France, the Giro d’Italia, and La Vuelta a España, alongside race reports and analysis. He has also conducted interviews with professional riders.
His reporting spans the full racing calendar, from one-day classics to stage races, with a focus on accurate, real-time coverage and clear contextual analysis. For statistics, results, and historical context, he regularly uses resources such as ProCyclingStats. To support reporting on rider activity and training context where relevant, he also references Strava.
In his work, Kieran places strong emphasis on careful sourcing, editorial accuracy, and updating articles as new, verified information becomes available.
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- Congrats! It is done so now is time for CX.averagecyclist15-11-2026
- It's going to happen at some point. It will happen to Tadej as well, we all get older. Jonas was in pretty great form at the tour. I still consider him a top two or three cyclist in the world, until he's not.awp15-11-2026
- mij, I am not so sure of that. I have been on a spine ward at a Denver hospital that had quite a few spinal injuries from mountain biking.BDBigGuy15-11-2026
- Pogi takes care of his teammates in races and training. Tadej Pogačar is widely praised within the cycling peloton for his fair and egalitarian leadership, actively supporting his UAE teammates both on the road during races and behind the scenes at training camps. Rather than acting like an untouchable superstar, he has intense team loyalty by sharing daily chores, giving up personal glory to help domestiques, and publicly praising their sacrifices. Unlike some Grand Tour contenders, like Vingegaard, who occasionally train away from their squads, Pogi consistently attends team training camps alongside his domestiques, making the exact same sacrifices to build friendship. I love how Pogačar shares his teammates-domestiques, either when they succeed or win in races or when they simply just do a good job for him. It has to be a great moral boost for them. And then they work even harder and go even deeper for Pogi. This is teamwork.PogiSloFans15-11-2026
- Yeah, what he said!Lozza15-11-2026
- I’m sure Jasper Philipsen would disagree with you.Lozza15-11-2026
- Article says he was “out for a spin around the town”, implying not off-road.Lozza15-11-2026
- let’s be honest, Alpecin is all about one rider - MVDP. I’m sure he gets whatever he needs, the rest get the scraps.mij15-11-2026
- there are more vicious injuries on a road bike than a mountain bike far and away.mij15-11-2026
- That'll be one crazy rider
Rafionain-Glas15-11-2026
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🇧🇪Back to back for @JasperPhilipsen! 🇧🇪2 à la suite pour @JasperPhilipsen ! #TDF2023 @Continental_fr
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