Second last year behind Wout van Aert, Belgian Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin) settled the Champs-Élysées sprint on Sunday to win the 21st stage and sign his second success since the start of the Tour de France. This time, Wout van Aert stayed in the last positions of the peloton to cross the line arm in arm with the yellow jersey, Dane Jonas Vingegaard, and his other Jumbo teammates. As a result of timing, Vingegaard’s lead over his runner-up, the Slovenian Tadej Pogacar, was reduced by around fifty seconds to stand at 2 minutes 43 seconds.
For the stage win and the sixth Belgian victory since the start, Philipsen clearly beat two former winners of the Champs-Élysées sprint: the Dutchman Dylan Groenewegen (winner in 2017) and the Norwegian Alexander Kristoff (in 2018). On the other hand, the red lantern of the Tour, the Australian Caleb Ewan (winner in 2019), could not join the fight for the first places. Unhappy since leaving Denmark, Ewan finished eighth, paradoxically his best result in the 2022 Tour.
An attack from Pogacar to finish
“I’m living a childhood dream, exclaimed Philipsen. I was in a very good position, it was ideal for me, I was able to make my effort when I wanted. Finishing like this is the icing on the cake.” Already winner of the fifteenth stage in Carcassonne, the Belgian from the Alpecin team gleaned his sixth success of the season and the twentieth of his career.
The sprint concluded a stage in keeping with tradition: a parade until the middle of the race, passing through the splendours of Versailles then the Louvre, a sudden change of pace on the final circuit (6.8 km to be covered eight times ) and… an inevitable sprint. For the game, Pogacar had fun attacking on the last lap, at the top of the Champs-Élysées, followed by the world time trial champion, the Italian Filippo Ganna. A symbolic start, like a promise of combat to come next year.