Tour de France | Green jersey battle heats up again as Jasper Philipsen sprints to stage 16 victory and Biniam Girmay crashes

Jasper Philipsen has won stage 16 of the Tour de France with a regular bunch sprint after a very calm day of racing. The Alpecin-Deceuninck rider is back in the fight for the points classification as Biniam Girmay crashed in the final kilometers.

The first day of racing in the final week promised to be the final opportunity for the sprinters, but unlike the traditional final week attitude, there were no attacks whatsoever at the start of the stage. A very conservative peloton in the flat days was a trend that continued this Tuesday, and it led to a very calm day in the peloton.

The threat of crosswinds didn't come to be, and only after the intermediate was there an attack, from TotalEnergies' Thomas Gachinard making the break of the day. A move that was never threatening of course, Alpecin-Deceininck controlled with Silvan Dillier who had worked throughout the day.

There was a lot of tension in the final kilometers with a fresh peloton. The leadouts slowly accelerated towards the final kilometers with no team taking to the front with dominance. In the final 2 kilometers the very fast finale saw Biniam Girmay crash.

Uno-X and Alpecin-Deceuninck had the numbers going inot the final kilometer but it was a textbook leadout from Alpecin and Mathieu van der Poel that saw Jasper Philipsen being launched in perfect position. The Belgian sprinted for his third victory of the race, unmatched.

Phil Bauhaus and Alexander Kristoff finished second and third with the peloton arriving with a few splits - that wouldn't count for the overall classification due to the crash. Girmay arrived seemingly uninjured.