Jasper Philipsen has won the sixteenth stage of the Tour de France. After a dull monotonous stage, where hopes for echelons were held against better judgment, it came down to the last classic bunch sprint in the sweltering streets of Nimes. Green jersey holder Biniam Girmay crashed in the finale, which allowed Philipsen not only to claim the victory but also to make up fifty points in the points classification.
The sixteenth stage, the first after the second rest day, began at 1:30 PM, with the finish scheduled around 5:40 PM. Interesting on paper, since the peloton had been speeding like a rocket throughout the Tour, but Tuesday was different. The sprinters' teams took away the motivation for attackers to join actively before the start, and the announced wind was not nearly strong enough. In short: chatting, meandering, and cruising at an average speed of 37 kilometers per hour through the opening phase.
This lasted until the intermediate sprint in Les Matellettes. It was a sprint after a small hill, where Bryan Coquard on behalf of Cofidis gathered the most points. Jasper Philipsen also gained an additional four points on green jersey wearer Biniam Girmay. As the peloton resumed its cozy tea party afterwards, it was Thomas Gachignard from TotalEnergies who felt the distance was now pretty fine and took off over the day's only climb (the fourth-category Côte de Fambetou).
Read more below the video
Peloton chases lone leader, heading toward expected bunch sprint
The 23-year-old Frenchman managed a maximum lead of 2.30 minutes, with the peloton now finally having a target to chase. There was not a single team that really took the initiative, the various sprint trains made enough pace side by side to reel in Gachignard slowly but surely. In the scorching heat, with the asphalt melting at the finish line, the nervousness increased. The lone leader was caught entering the last 25 kilometers, and then everyone was still fresh and ready for a blazingly fast final half-hour.
In that, no crazy attacks were seen, but ten (!) roundabouts in the last ten kilometers. Uno-X was boldly at the front, as was Lotto-Dstny. Heading into the final kilometer, things went wrong at one of the roundabouts for Girmay and Marijn van den Berg, knocking two sprinters out of contention. Alpecin-Deceuninck smelled blood, and with Van der Poel leading, they blasted into the last 300 meters. Philipsen was perfectly set up and finished it off. Third stage victory, as many as Girmay, who was helped across the line by his teammates. Difference in the battle for green: 36 points!
Results stage 16 Tour de France 2024
Results powered by FirstCycling.com
Place comments
0 Comments
You are currently seeing only the comments you are notified about, if you want to see all comments from this post, click the button below.
Show all comments