No one would have bet on this outcome. In any case, certainly not Tom Steels, the sports director of Soudal Quick-Step, who estimated his probability at “1.5%”. However, the breakaway resisted the return of the peloton, during the 18e stage of the Tour de France, in Bourg-en-Bresse, Thursday July 20. Among the runaways, Kasper Asgreen was the fastest. The Dane settled Dutchman Pascal Eenkhoorn (Lotto-Dstny) and Norwegian Jonas Abrahamsen (Uno-X) on the line. He offers himself the first success of his career on the event. It is also the first victory for his team in this 110e edition, hitherto very complicated for this formation in which Julian Alaphilippe appears.
After eight difficult days, between uneven and mountainous routes, the 152 riders still entered at the start of the event had forgotten what an almost entirely flat course was. The opportunity for Jasper Philipsen and his Alpecin-Deceuninck formation to remember the good memories of the peloton, after the successes compiled in Bayonne (Pyrénées-Atlantiques), Nogaro (Gers), Bordeaux and Moulins, it was thought.
Irony of history: it was indeed a team of sprinters who won, but whose finisher, Fabio Jakobsen, had given up before the 12e stage, victim of a fall. “I checked off today and tomorrow. I was very motivated to give something back to the whole team, [à] my teammates, [à] all the people who help us. I wanted to go for the stage victoryexplains Asgreen. Of course, the situation was not ideal. I would have liked to leave with more riders, but it’s the last week of the Tour, it’s not the first time that a small group has managed to beat the sprinter teams. I believed it ! »
The winner of the Tour of Flanders 2021 packed up at the start of the day, along with Norwegian Jonas Abrahamsen (Uno-X) and Belgian Victor Campenaerts (Lotto-Dstny). The trio never had a lead of more than 1 minute and 20 seconds over the rest of the riders, but were able to count on the precious contribution of a fourth man, Pascal Eenkhoorn. Heckled by Jasper Philipsen himself, determined to prevent him from getting out of the group, the Dutchman allowed Lotto-Dstny to be in numerical superiority in the breakaway and saw Campenaerts sacrifice himself in the final, to the chagrin of the peloton.
“A little support would have been welcome”
If their escapade was able to reach the finish in the lead, it is also thanks to the Dane’s teammates, Julian Alaphilippe and Tim Declercq, who did everything to disrupt the pursuit of the peloton by constantly inserting themselves in the middle of the formations of sprinters who were trying to organize themselves to take back the four fugitives. But after the successive retirements of Mark Cavendish (Astana-Qazaqstan), Caleb Ewan (Lotto-Dstny), Phil Bauhaus (Bahrain-Victorious) and Wout van Aert (Jumbo-Visma), the contenders for stage victory are fewer than in the first two weeks of the Tour. Consequence: few teams had an interest in riding to regain the breakaway, which would have benefited Jasper Philipsen anyway, finally at the foot of the podium.
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