Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Deceuninck) has blasted to victory in stage 3 of the 2023 Tour de France in a tumultuous bunch sprint ahead of Phil Bauhaus (Bahrain Victorious) and Caleb Ewan (Lotto-Dstny).
Adam Yates (UAE Team Emirates) remains in the overall lead after a straightforward day for the maillot jaune.
Philipsen received a fine lead-out from teammate Mathieu van der Poel, enabling him to claim the first bunch sprint of the 2023 Tour and the third Tour of his career by half a wheel.
The Belgian had a nervous few minutes after the stage as the commissaries reviewed video footage of the final sprint following allegations that Philipsen moved from his line too much in the sprint, cutting off Wout Van Aert (Jumbo-Visma).
But in what had been a fraught, technical finish, finally, the commissaires ruled that Philipsen was not at fault.
“There was a bit of doubt,” Philipsen said when he was definitively declared the winner before joking, “They [the commissaires] made it quite exciting in the end.
“It was tense, but it’s the Tour de France, there are no presents for nobody. I think everybody goes all in, and I can be really happy with our team today.”
“I had a great lead-out with Jonas [Rickaert], he did a great first part, and then Mathieu did a fantastic job. If Mathieu has the space to go, then for sure, he has the speed. You just know that no other lead-out will pass him.
“It was a tricky finale with the S-bend in the end, so I tried to take the shortest route to the finish. I’m really happy to get first over the line.”
Stage 4 from Dax to Nogaro is 184 kilometres long, even flatter and, as such, also likely to end in another bunch sprint – and another great opportunity for Philipsen.
How it unfolded
Starting deep in the northwest side of the Basque Country with a series of four minor climbs, Neilson Powless (EF Education-EasyPost) used the relative calm in the peloton to rack up some more points for his mountains competition lead. After breaking away with Laurent Pichon (Arkéa-Samsic) before the Côte de Trabakua (km 13.8), Powless racked up maximum points on each ascent as the duo pushed out their initial advantage to nearly four minutes.
Shortly before the mid-stage intermediate sprints banner, stage 2 winner Victor Lafay (Cofidis) then made a counter-attack to take third place and some more points for his green jersey lead. The Frenchman was then swept up by the peloton, but Powless continued his mountain classification points total…
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