NOGARO – On the Paul-Armagnac racing circuit, the winner Jasper Philipsen thought he was a racing car in the chicanes and the long straight line towards the checkered flag.
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Without lying, it took a little patience to see the show come alive but in a crescendo, the crazy handlebars raised the pressure a little until their tires touched the asphalt of the circuit surely cleaned of the rejects motorized trials.
Despite a few tight turns, the many falls occurred rather in relatively safe wide sections. This time, the route studied in advance had nothing to do with these accidents.
With European champion Fabio Jakobsen on the ground, Jasper Philipsen won a fourth consecutive bunch sprint in the Tour de France, the day after his triumph in Bayonne and a year after his successes in Carcassonne and on the Champs-Élysées.
AFP
An identical scene
Well hidden once again behind his teammate Mathieu Van der Poel, the king of the sprint put his nose in the wind only 150 meters from the finish line by crossing to his right. In this meticulous exercise, the train is of paramount importance and Alpecin made no mistake.
Third in Bayonne on Monday, Caleb Ewan missed his chance by finishing 2nd ahead of Paul Bauhaus, also on the podium the day before.
“Caleb was right next to me. I was not so confident. He caught up with me at the end, it was really very nervous. I am extremely proud to have won twice in a row. The finish was very quick, we felt like racing cars,” commented the winner Philipsen, happy to have avoided a crash.
still frustrated
Well led by Alexis Renard, Bryan Coquard (Cofidis) finished 4th. In six participations in the Tour de France since 2014, Coquard has ranked more than ten times among the first ten stages without ever winning his bouquet.
The peloton, which anticipates the next two days in the Pyrenees, obviously did not want to break the bicycle by wasting cartridges unnecessarily. Even the description struggled to convey the almost non-existent action because for a very rare time, no cyclist tried their luck on a breakaway early in the stage.
On the flat roads of Landes and Gers, the Alpecin and Lotto teams locked the scenario by using almost a Denver shoe to prevent others from circulating.
The first 95 kilometers were traveled at a very moderate pace, or 37 km/h on average.
AFP
Woods waits his turn
The intermediate sprint of Notre-Dame des Cyclistes after 88 kilometers for Jasper Philipsen to secure his green jersey by being intractable in front of his opponents. Unbeatable on the pedals, the 25-year-old Belgian is perhaps the fastest in the world today.
His impetus allowed the two Frenchmen from Normandy, Benoît Cosnefroy (AG2R Citroën) and Anthony Delaplace (Arkea-Samsic), to put a little flesh on a bone too thin to eat by creating a slight gap of 40 seconds. Even in front of the camera bike, Cosnefroy said he didn’t know why he was leading the race with his partner. He was still awarded the fighting spirit of the day award for his effort. Each visit to the podium is not to be neglected.
In the general classification, Adam Yates retains the yellow jersey and the Canadian Michael Woods is still in 7th place.
DAX-NOGARO – 182 KM
