Friday’s seventh stage of the 110th Tour de France was another feast for the sprinters and another victory for green jersey Jasper Philipsen. The Belgian overtook Mark Cavendish in the final 150 meters to score a hat trick of triumphs in the 2023 Tour. Jonas Vingegaard kept safe in yellow. Guillaume Boivin was the top Canadian in 35th.
The Course
The mountains were back in their box on Friday, as Stage 7 offered up a sprinter’s parcours. There was a single categorized climb, Cat. 4 Côte de Béguey, peaking with 39 km to go in the 170-km route.
Back on the flat for stage 7 of the #TDF2023, 169.9 kilometers from Mont-de-Marsan to Bordeaux. pic.twitter.com/zstn93nKzN
— Soudal Quick-Step Pro Cycling Team (@soudalquickstep) July 7, 2023
After two days of 20-30 strong breakaways, Friday prompted a single escapee, Frenchman Simon Guglielmi of Team Arkéa Samsic. He pulled out a 7:00 lead before Alpecin-Deceuninck and Lotto-Dstny brought it down. “Gugli” went through the day’s intermediate sprint 2:00 ahead of the peloton. Biniam Girmay earned the second-most points and green jersey Philipsen the third most.
After 92 solo kilometers, Guglielmi found himself joined by two more Frenchmen–Nan Peters and Pierre Latour. It would be these two late additions who would be the last survivors, heading into the final 13 km before Bordeaux with a 35-second lead. Jumbo-Visma and DSM-Firmenich pitched in with the chase. Latour was the last to surrender with 3.5 km remaining.
The colour blocks formed. Alpecin grabbed the front, leading under the red kite. Mathieu van der Poel led out Philipsen. Mark Cavendish rocketed out of the bunch and hugged the right-hand barriers. Philipsen came around him and hung fast for the victory.
Saturday is another sprinter’s special before Week 1 concludes with the brutal Puy de Dome summit finish on Sunday.
2023 Tour de France Stage 7
1) Jasper Philipsen (Belgium/Alpecin-Deceuninck) 3:46:28
2) Mark Cavendish (Great Britain/Astana) s.t.
3) Biniam Girmay (Ethiopia/Intermarché-Circus-Wanty) s.t.
35) Guillaume Boivin (Canada/Israel-Premier Tech) s.t.
71) Hugo Houle (Canada/Israel-Premier Tech) +0:15
78) Michael Woods (Canada/Israel-Premier Tech) s.t.
2023 Tour de France GC
1) Jonas Vingegaard (Denmark/Jumbo-Visma) 29:57:12
2) Tadej Pogačar (Slovenia/UAE-Emirates) +0:25
3) Jai Hindley (Australia/Bora-Hansgrohe) +1:34
32) Michael Woods (Canada/Israel-Premier…
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