Philipsen surprises Visma | Lease a Bike with early sprint: "Van Aert was perfectly positioned by Laporte"

Jasper Philipsen sprinted to his second stage win after an exciting thirteenth stage of the Tour de France. The Alpecin-Deceuninck sprinter narrowly beat fellow Belgian Wout van Aert at the finish in Pau. Needless to say, Philipsen was delighted with his sprint performance after the race.

"It was full throttle from the start, and the peloton never slowed down," Philipsen said in the flash interview after the crazy stage. "There was a crosswind, and a large group was ahead. We had Mathieu and Axel (Van der Poel and Laurance, ed.) with us. I thought they would hold on to the finish, but the peloton kept pushing. I also had confidence. I felt good, much better than earlier in the week."

Philipsen's confidence showed in the sprint. He took the initiative and was the first among the favorites to launch his sprint, which somewhat surprised Van Aert. "I started my sprint with confidence and am happy that no one could pass me," said the stage winner, who could benefit from the men of Visma | Lease a Bike's work. "Van Aert was perfectly positioned by Christophe Laporte. I was in their wheel and started the sprint early. I am very happy with it."

"I currently have the best feeling so far in this Tour de France," Philipsen says, clearly happy that his form is growing. "We had a rough start, also in terms of that feeling. And we had some bad luck. But I am very happy that we were able to turn it around. With two stage wins, you can't say it's a bad Tour." Still, it is not the four stage wins and the green jersey of last year. "Of course, you always want more, but you also have to take it day by day. We are first going to enjoy this victory," Philipsen said, probably looking forward to a glass of champagne tonight.

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Vermeersch dropped off Philipsen, Roodhooft about Van der Poel: "That's not always easy either"

After the stage, teammate Gianni Vermeersch spoke to Eurosport, calling it a tough day in the saddle. Although he did not have the best legs himself, he managed to set up his leader well in the final phase. "It was a super-fast stage, from start to finish. It was great to race like that. Jasper was the only one in the first peloton at the first echelons, but fortunately, things came back together. I really suffered, but Jasper quickly said he felt great, so I promised to position him well in the last two kilometers. He was in Girmay's wheel and finished it off."

Team leader Christoph Roodhooft also gave his analysis. He went into more detail about Van der Poel's performance during the stage. "Yesterday, we had a tough day, and we knew today was going to be hectic. We had Mathieu and Axel in the breakaway, but there was no freedom there. It's a shame because we thought the break would make it to Pau, so Mathieu really went for it there. Jasper said in the meeting that he knew how to handle it, and he did everything perfectly. When the echelons came, Mathieu could no longer be there for him, but that's not always easy either."