Bad day for Alpecin-Deceuninck: Two riders finished too late, "Van der Poel also felt unwell"

Alpecin-Deceuninck started the twelfth stage of the Tour de France with high ambitions, but the race ended up being a disappointment. Team leader Jasper Philipsen finished sixth after hard work by his team, but more importantly, the team lost Soren Kragh Andersen and Jonas Rickaert, two of its riders.

Rickaert fell in the opening phase of the race, after which he visibly had pain in several fingers. The powerful Belgian then struggled uphill and spent a long time behind the peloton with Yevgeniy Fedorov (Astana Qazaqstan Team), but ultimately did not make the time cut. The same fate befell Kragh Andersen, who had complained of a sore throat before the stage. The Dane took a few turns at the front and then dropped back to Rickaert, but he too eventually was 'outside the time limit'.

"It's a pity that I have to leave the Tour this way. I had saddle soreness that only got worse. I had no choice but to stop. I hoped that I could get Jonas across the finish line within the time limit, as my last task here. Unfortunately, that didn't work," said Kragh Andersen through his team's official channels. Rickaert saw some beauty in it. "I must thank Soren, it's very unfortunate because with a good night's sleep I might have been ready to help Jasper tomorrow. But that wasn't to be."

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Philipsen: "Van der Poel also felt unwell"

Thus, team leader Philipsen had to go it alone in the sprint, where he finished sixth. "It's kind of the story of the day that I wasn't well-positioned. Mathieu van der Poel felt unwell and Jonas had fallen. We all had a not so good feeling," said Philipsen. Van der Poel had already complained before the stage that he did not feel great on Wednesday and was now behind the crash involving Primoz Roglic, among others.

"In this Tour, the sprint is often chaotic," Philipsen continued. "There isn't really a clear lead-out, today was the same. It was all individual riders. That made it difficult for me to take advantage of a lead-out and get to the front again. Although I also made a few wrong decisions, I'm already looking forward to the next stage. Regarding the green jersey: Biniam Girmay is having a very good Tour and it's almost within his reach."