At the end of a very quiet day in the peloton between Dax and Nogaro, the rider from the Alpecin-Deceuninck team won in the sprint on Tuesday and signed his 4th victory in the Tour, the second this year after his success in the day before.
He was the fastest during this arrival on the Paul Armagnac racing circuit in Nogaro. Like Monday in Bayonne, Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Deceuninck) won in the sprint on Tuesday July 4, ahead of Caleb Ewan (Lotto-Dstny). The Belgian, perfectly led by his teammate Mathieu van der Poel, cut the line half a wheel ahead of the Australian in a tense final, marked by several falls.
Philipsen took advantage of this new success, the second in two days, to take the green jersey in the points classification from the shoulders of Frenchman Victor Lafay.
The peloton under the control of the sprinter teams
This fourth stage suffered from – almost – no jolts in the peloton. Just the intermediate sprint at Notre-Dame-des-Cyclistes, 86 km from the finish, caused a slight wind of madness to blow. Jasper Philipsen, already him, took the opportunity to glean precious points for the green jersey, taking over the lead of the classification from the Cofidis rider Victor Lafay, the first tricolor hero of this Grande Boucle 2023, Sunday in San Sebastian.
In the aftermath, a few meters further, two riders took the opportunity to move forward, constituting the only breakaway of the day. Anthony Delaplace (Team Arkéa Samsic) and Benoît Cosnefroy (AG2R Citroën Team), the two Normans, showed their broad smiles at the front of the race, knowing their attempt was very compromised. Because behind, the peloton led by the formations Jayco AlUla (for Dylan Groenewegen), Soudal-Quick Step (for Fabio Jakobsen) and Alpecin-Deceuninck (for Jasper Philipsen) never left them more than a minute of margin.
Caught 24 km from the finish, just after the only difficulty of the day, the Côte de Dému (4th category), the two Frenchmen saw the peloton gradually increase the pace. The sprinters’ teammates rubbed their way to reposition themselves in front and avoid being trapped in this technical final at Nogaro. Fabio Jakobsen, he could not avoid the fall 1.5 km from the finish. The fact remains that in the end, it was still Philipsen who won. Without question, the best sprinter of this Tour de France, for the moment, is him.
Like the day before, no upheaval to report in the general classification. Adam Yates (UAE Team Emirates) retains the leader’s yellow jersey, ahead of his teammate Tadej Pogacar, and his twin brother Simon Yates (Jayco-AlUla).