The seventh stage of the Tour de France marked the return to the plain this Friday with an arrival in Bordeaux where the Grande Boucle had not stopped since 2010. A course which ended in a sprint, an exercise in which the Belgian Jasper Philipsen again triumphed. The rider of the Alpecin-Deceuninck team won his third stage victory in this Tour de France 2023, thus depriving Mark Cavendish of a 35th success on the Great Loop which would have consecrated him as the record holder of victories on the Tour. Philipsen thus consolidates his green jersey while Jonas Vingagaard remains in yellow.
The main information :
- Belgian Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Deceuninck) won the 7th stage of the Tour de France in Bordeaux
- This is his third stage victory in this 2023 edition.
- Mark Cavendish will still have to wait before breaking the record for the number of victories on the Great Loop
- Jonas Vingegaard keeps his yellow jersey
The route of the 7th stage
Credit: official Tour de France website
Philipsen, king of the sprint
How far away the “Jasper Disaster”, his nickname popularized by the Netflix series, and his tears on the Champs Elysées in 2021 when he left the Tour empty-handed and emotionally devastated. “If you had told me that a week ago, I would have called you crazy. It’s a dream Tour”, he reacted. If we add to this his successes last year at the end of the Tour in Carcassonne and on the Champs Elysées, he even won in the last five massive sprints disputed on the Grande Boucle.
Enough to put his man in an exercise as perilous as the massive sprint where it is not only a question of beating his rivals but also of avoiding falls and clearing a path in the middle of a minefield. In Bayonne, Fabio Jakobsen, one of his main competitors, had described his behavior as “dangerous and stupid”. In Nogaro, the commissioners reviewed the images before validating its success. And on Friday, it was Biniam Girmay who crossed the line very upset, complaining of having been pushed back towards the barriers.
But for Philipsen, it’s simply the price to pay to exist in that world. Being shy and nice doesn’t work too well against other “big thighs” and he knows it all the better because he has long lacked self-confidence, entertaining his teammates above all with his carelessness. “The difference is enormous between the Jasper of today and the one who cried on the Champs Elysées two years ago. I gained experience, muscle too”, said the green jersey.
The contrast is in any case striking with the rider who had experienced “shame” on the Tour again last year when he had crossed the finish line in Calais with his arms raised, believing he had won, when Wout Van Aert was already almost installed on the podium. “I lacked patience for a long time. I wanted success to come quickly but I was not ready. Now yes,” said the second of the last Paris-Roubaix on Friday.