sprinter Jasper Philipsen at the party in Bayonne – Liberation

2023-07-03 18:19:39

The Belgian rider from Alpecin-Deceuninck wins the third stage of the Grande Boucle, promised to the fastest riders in the peloton. He was able to count on a launch with small onions from Mathieu van der Poel.

The biggest hams in the peloton had ticked off the day’s stage. After two undulating days in the Spanish Basque Country, the Tour de France was to return to France on Monday July 3, offering a favorable finish for the fastest runners in the streets of Bayonne. It was no different. At the end of a contested stage at a measured tempo, the sprinter trains formed 30 kilometers from the goal and the peloton gradually accelerated before the final orbit. On the line, it is the Belgian Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Deceuninck) who raises his arms. Adam Yates (UAE Team Emirates) remains in yellow.

Jasper Philipsen’s win comes as no surprise. The general opinion is that he is the fastest runner of the moment and he is accompanied by a luxury train. Last wagon of this Orient Express: no less than the champion Mathieu Van der Poel, who was able to drop off his sprinter in the best conditions a few hectometres from the objective. This success in Bayonne brings to three the number of stages won by Philipsen on the Tour de France, he who won in Caracassone and on the Champs-Elysées last year. It is very possible that the harvest of bouquets does not stop there for “Jasper Disaster”.

Escaped from the first kilometers, the first leaders of the stage will have been the Frenchman Laurent Pichon (Arkéa Samsic) and the essential Neilson Powless (EF Education-EasyPost). Like the day before, the American went to glean points for his best climber’s jersey at the top of hills with names reminiscent of the Basque Country (Trabakua, Itziar, Orioko Benta, etc.). Another courier felt like he was growing wings because of his overcoat: Victor Lafay. The winner of Sunday’s stage and wearing the green jersey came out of the peloton not far from Deba, where the only intermediate sprint of the day was contested, to take 15 points in the nose and beard of the specialists. The blow was not planned: at the microphone of Eurosport, just after the fleeting breakaway, his sporting director assured that Lafay would have the right to “a little debrief on arrival” because the points classification “is not a objective”. In the meantime, level on points with Philipsen, Lafay remains in green for one more day. The habit does not make the monk, but it can make the runner.