"This could only increase the aggressiveness for the next sprints" - Jose De Cauwer feels Jasper Philipsen has been harshly punished at Tour de France
CyclingFriday, 05 July 2024 at 13:00
Not for the first time, Jasper Philipsen's sprint was the subject of much controversy on stage 6 at the 2024 Tour de France. This time though, the race jury took action, relegating the Belgian, who'd initially crossed the line in 2nd. Not all are in agreement with the decision however.
Analysing the final sprint for Sporza, Belgian cycling expert Jose De Cauwer admits he can see why Philipsen would feel harshly treated by the race jury. "Wout van Aert passes Philipsen, but never gets past him. Philipsen is riding a bit faster at that moment. Does Van Aert not dare?" De Cauwer begins his assessment. "He only stops his legs a bit later."
In fact, De Cauwer believes Philipsen's relegation was more due to the controversy of previous sprints than any actual danger in the Alpecin-Deceuninck sprinter's move for the line in Dijon on stage 6. "It is a very tough decision that they take away his second place. And with that, almost the green jersey. This costs him thirty points. Valuable points. Girmay now has those thirty points and that makes a world of difference," explains the Sporza analyst. "This could only increase the aggressiveness for the next sprints."
"Actually, you should have drawn that line as a jury on Wednesday. But they didn't. And now they are drawing it. It's an accumulation of events. While that really shouldn't be allowed," continues De Cauwer. "You should never take the day before into account in your decision. You should not use offside in a previous match to whistle today. But I can ultimately agree with it. It was a 50-50 decision."
Finally however, De Cauwer shared a message of congratulations for the eventual stage winner, Team Jayco AlUla's Dutch national champion, Dylan Groenewegen. "I think it's great. He's been in good shape for a few weeks. A bit like the new Groenewegen. He uses a bit of Arnaud De Lie as a lead-out. He can light a candle for him. But congratulations, a great victory."
claps 0visitors 0
Just in
Popular news
Latest comments
- Not very likely. No nostalgia tour.mobk21-05-2025
- Once a rider starts to crash, he becomes a crash magnet.abstractengineer21-05-2025
- So, is it solved???Mistermaumau20-05-2025
- Or some health issue. I’d make sure he’s never far from an ambulance with competent crew.Mistermaumau20-05-2025
- I hate to agree. If it was a lesser name that had won in that way, they would have been called a "wheelsucker". Still a win is a win and it goes down in the record books as that, no matter how it is gained.Cyclingsbestfan20-05-2025
- At this point i suspect nobody knows what the problems are. Overtraining/undertraining or sickness or fatigue or just mental pressureabstractengineer20-05-2025
- He should have left the previous time before he signed this contract. But probably the offers weren't lucrative enoughabstractengineer20-05-2025
- He sat on for 40km! That is not a glorious victoryracyrich20-05-2025
- Why do we still see quotes from Wuyts? I’ve yet to read anything constructive from him - always criticizing riders, esp non Belgians. I wonder if he’s just envious of their talent?Crashjames20-05-2025
- Based on the last 5 TTs on WT & Pro levels, ProCyclingStats.com predicts Ayuso could gain 14 seconds on Del Toro, Roglic 20 seconds. Roglic would jump from 10th to 4th in GC during the TT. Personally I think Roglic will gain more than 20 seconds on both.Ride197420-05-2025
He has been correctly punished. Last year both van der poel and Jasper were too cocky and arrogant, pushing people out of the way and blocking.
I believe that the opposite of what Jose de Cauwer says is true, actually. I believe that you only embolden a rider when you allow them to get away with something over and over again, as you're essentially condoning that behaviour. The correct decision was made regarding Jasper Philipsen's dangerous move, and now he and the rest of the riders have a better understanding of what will and what wont be tolerated in the sprints.