Armstrong and co marvel at Van der Poel: "When he's in the lead, everyone knows: game over"

Jasper Philipsen secured his first stage victory in the 2024 Tour de France on Tuesday, thanks to a perfect sprint setup by his team Alpecin-Deceuninck, which obviously brought great relief. The work of his team was widely praised afterwards, with a key role played by world champion Mathieu van der Poel.

In the THEMOVE podcast, Lance Armstrong, George Hincapie, and Bradley Wiggins discussed the stage to Saint-Amand-Montrond. "Jasper was quite emotional at the finish," Armstrong noted, who observed a very strong sprint train from Alpecin-Deceuninck. "It was perfect," judged the American.

Hincapie fully agreed. "Anyone who knows cycling and saw that train, with Van der Poel having clear road in the last kilometer, knows it's game over for the rest. Then it becomes impossible to beat Philipsen, which was indeed the case."

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Van der Poel impresses in the Low Countries with 'aggressiveness', also compliments for Robbe Ghys

In Live Slow Ride Fast, Laurens ten Dam and Thomas Dekker analyzed Van der Poel's lead-out. "Mathieu is Mathieu, but what struck me was that Robbe Ghys is also worth his weight in gold. He's not an expensive lead-out, but he still managed to secure Jasper's win here. Of course, Mathieu also did a great job setting up, but Ghys also took the lead from nine hundred to five hundred meters from the finish. After Mathieu, it was easy peasy."

José De Cauwer, Sporza commentator, also saw an impressive world champion. "I saw a Van der Poel that I kind of missed in the first week. The aggressiveness that was there now. Ghys also said: it's as if we are better than the first 4 days. It seems a bit like that. Not just because of that stage win. It was definitely a textbook lead-out," said the Belgian.