(Bayonne) From Jasper the Disaster to Jasper the Master: Jasper Philipsen, renowned for his giddiness, showed he might be the best sprinter around by winning the third stage of the Tour de France on Monday in Bayonne by a comfortable margin .
The 25-year-old Belgian, whose nickname ‘The Disaster’ was popularized by the Netflix series about the Big Loop, gave no chance to other ‘big thighs’ to claim his third victory in the most great race in the world.
The only time the rider from Alpecin trembled was when the race marshals decided to view the images to check if he had not deviated from his route when he slightly packed his compatriot Wout Van Aert in barriers.
There followed a few minutes of hesitation where Philipsen, like a student waiting for the baccalaureate results, anxiously scrutinized the images on a small television screen in the protocol area in the company of… Tadej Pogacar, with whom he is very good friends.
“I knew the right side was the most direct. When you’re in the lead, you try to take the shortest route,” he later justified, acknowledging that the line was “fine.”
At the green light from the marshals, he jumped up to head for the podium and celebrate the first victory of the 2023 Tour on French soil, rallying at a senator’s pace after two hectic days in the Spanish Basque Country.
With this seventh victory of the season, the Belgian confirms that he is perhaps the best sprinter in the world. A sweet revenge for a runner who has long lacked self-confidence.
His hesitations, his oversights and his blunders served as a framework for the Netflix teams to camp in their series a character with very muscular but ultimately fragile thighs.
With the highlight of this famous scene where he crossed the finish line in Calais on the Tour de France 2022 with his arms outstretched and screaming with joy, believing he had won. Only to find a few seconds later that it was in fact the fumble Wout Van Aert – who else? – who had cut the line before him by mimicking an albatross.
“It’s a shame,” he whispered to his girlfriend then.
The Belgian erased the affront by winning twice on the Tour, including the royal sprint on the Champs-Élysées.
Monday in Bayonne he drove the point home, ideally launched by an overpowered Mathieu van der Poel, to well ahead of the German Phil Bauhaus and the Australian Caleb Ewan.
“It’s not easy to stay in Mathieu’s wheel. When you see the other trains unable to pass, it’s going very fast, “said Philipsen, captured at 72.1 km / h in the final straight.
Rightly, he insisted on the invaluable contribution of his leader. Having the winner of Paris-Roubaix and Milan-Sanremo as pilot fish is a luxury that few sprinters can claim.
But, and it shows like the nose in the face, Philipsen has also gained confidence and he feels very strong. Stronger on Monday than his main rivals, the Dutch Fabio Jakobsen (4th) and Dylan Groenewegen (8th).
More so than Wout Van Aert (5th), “much more relaxed” after this new failure than the day before when he hit his handlebars in rage after finishing second behind Victor Lafay.
As for Mark Cavendish (6th), he missed a first opportunity to beat the record for victories in the Tour de France which he holds with the great Eddy Merckx (34 successes).
The Briton will be able to try his luck again on Tuesday during the fourth stage which also promises to arrive in a sprint on the Nogaro racing circuit.
But Jasper Philipsen will still lurk around and he won’t give presents.
1. Adam Yates (GBR/UAD) 13 h 52: 33.
2. Tadej Pogacar (SLO / UAD) at 6.
3. Simon Yates (GBR/JAY) 6.
4. Victor Lafay (FRA/COF) 12.
5. Wout van Aert (BEL/TJV) 16.
6. Jonas Vingegaard (DEN/TJV) 17.
7. Michael Woods (CAN/IPT) 22.
8. Jai Hindley (AUS/BOH) 22nd
9. Carlos Rodríguez (ESP/IGD) 22.
10. Mattias Skjelmose (DEN/LTK) 22.
11. Mikel Landa (ESP/TBV) 22.
12. David Gaudu (FRA/GFC) 22.
13. Wilco Kelderman (NED/TJV) 22.
14. Romain Bardet (FRA/DSM) 43.
15. Thomas Pidcock (GBR/IGD) 43.
16. Steff Cras (BEL/TEN) 43.
17. Pello Bilbao (ESP/TBV) 43.
18. Egan Bernal (COL/IGD) 43.
19. Emanuel Buchmann (GER/BOH) 43.
20. Giulio Ciccone (ITA/LTK) 43.
21. Dylan Teuns (BEL/IPT) 43.
22. Louis Meintjes (RSA/ICW) 1:41.
23. Ben O’Connor (AUS/ACT) 1 : 41.
24. Guillaume Martin (FRA/COF) 1 : 41.
25. Harold Tejada (COL/AST) 1 : 41.
26. Sepp Kuss (USA/TJV) 1:41.
27. Rafal Majka (POL/UAD) 1:41.
28. Jack Haig (AUS/TBV) 2:15.
29. Thibaut Pinot (FRA/GFC) 2 : 47.
30. Clement Berthet (FRA/ACT) 3:08.
31. Valentin Madouas (FRA/GFC) 3:08.
32. Matt Dinham (AUS/DSM) 3-08.
33. Tiesj Benoot (BEL/TJV) 3 : 23.
34. Alberto Bettiol (ITA/EFE) 3 : 48.
35. Alex Aranburu (ESP/MOV) 3:50.
36. Jonathan Castroviejo (ESP/IGD) 3 : 51.
37. John Peters (ESP/LTK) 4:0
38. Chris Harper (AUS/JAY) 4 : 29.
39. Tobias Johannessen (NOR/UXT) 4 : 40.
40. Julian Alaphilippe (FRA/SOQ) 5 : 17.
41. Corbin Strong (NZL/IPT) 5 : 43.
42. Felix Gall (AUT/ACT) 5 : 43.
43. Victor Campenaerts (BEL/LTD) 8 : 11.
44. Gorka Izagirre (ESP/MOV) 8 : 23.
45. Bob Jungels (LUX/BOH) 8:47.
46. Luis Leon Sanchez (ESP/AST) 8:55.
47. Felix Großschartner (AUT/UAD) 9 : 41.
48. Tony Gallopin (FRA/LTK) 10:09.
49. Dylan van Baarle (NED/TJV) 11 : 10.
50. Patrick Konrad (AUT/BOH) 11:41.
51. Neilson Powless (USA/EFE) 11 : 48.
52. Mathieu Burgaudeau (FRA/TEN) 11:55.
53. Matej Mohoric (SLO/TBV) 11:59.
54. Chris Hamilton (AUS/DSM) 12 : 03.
55. Ruben Guerreiro (ENG/MOV) 12: 17.
56. Daniel Martinez (COL/IGD) 12:32.
57. Matis Louvel (FRA/ARK) 13:09.
58. Dries Devenyns (BEL/SOQ) 13 : 44.
59. Esteban Chaves (COL/EFE) 14 : 16.
60. Quinten Hermans (BEL/ADC) 14 : 22.
61. Anthon Charmig (DEN/UXT) 14 : 40.
62. Mathieu van der Poel (NED/ADC) 14 : 53.
63. Maxim Van Gils (BEL/LTD) 15 : 11.
64. Anthony Delaplace (FRA / ARK) 15: 12.
65. Aurélien Paret-Peintre (FRA/ACT) 15:25.
66. Warren Barguil (FRA/ARK) 16 : 18.
67. Ion Izagirre (ESP/COF) 16:26.
68. Rui Costa (POR/ICW) 16 : 33.
69. Antonio Pedrero (ESP/MOV) 16:50.
70. Nélson Oliveira (POR/MOV) 16: 51.
71. Hugo Houle (CAN/IPT) 16 : 52.
72. Michal Kwiatkowski (POL/IGD) 16 : 57.
73. Lilian Calmejane (FRA/ICW) 17 : 39.
74. Nicholas Schultz (AUS/IPT) 18:10.
75. Stefan Küng (SUI/GFC) 18 : 13.
76. Clement Champoussin (FRA / ARK) 18: 16.
77. Gregor Muehlberger (AUT/MOV) 18:22.
78. Alexey Lutsenko (KAZ/AST) 18 : 41.
79. Jasper Philipsen (BEL/ADC) 18:53.
80. Anthony Turgis (FRA/TEN) 19:05.
81. Matteo Jorgenson (USA/MOV) 19 : 07.
82. Kevin Geniets (LUX/GFC) 19:12.
83. Simon Geschke (GER/COF) 19 : 19.
84. Nathan Van Hooydonck (BEL/TJV) 19:21.
85. Mads Pedersen (DEN/LTK) 19 : 26.
86. Georg Zimmerman (GER/ICW) 19 : 46.
87. Kasper Asgreen (DEN/SOQ) 19:56.
88. Marc Soler (ESP/UAD) 20 : 29.
89. Michael Gogl (AUT/ADC) 20 : 57.
90. Biniam Girmay (ERI/ICW) 21 : 23.
91. Quentin Pacher (FRA/GFC) 21:34.
92. Rigoberto Urán (COL/EFE) 22 : 05.
93. David De la Cruz (ESP/AST) 22:12.
94. Pierre Latour (FRA/TEN) 22:26.
95. Anthony Perez (FRA/COF) 22 : 55.
96. Omar Fraile (ESP/IGD) 22 : 55.
97. Edvald Boasson Hagen (NOR/TEN) 24:02.
98. Daniel Oss (ITA/TEN) 24: 24.
99. Krists Neilands (LAT/IPT) 24 : 24.
100. Torstein Træen (NOR/UXT) 24 : 56.
101. Nils Politt (GER/BOH) 24 : 57.
102. Pascal Eenkhoorn (NED/LTD) 24 : 59.
103. Wouter Poels (NED/TBV) 25 : 05.
104. Mike Teunissen (NED/ICW) 25 : 24.
105. Bryan Coquard (FRA / COF) 25: 45.
106. Alex Kirsch (LUX/LTK) 25:45.
107. Yenthe Biermans (BEL/ARK) 25 : 45.
108. James Shaw (GBR/EFE) 26 : 11.
109. Simon Clarke (AUS/IPT) 26: 26.
110. Jasper Stuyven (BEL/LTK) 27 : 14.
111. Lars van den Berg (NED/GFC) 27 : 28.
112. Guillaume Boivin (CAN/IPT) 28 : 13.
113. Oliver Naesen (BEL/ACT) 28 : 13.
114. Nikias Arndt (GER/TBV) 28 : 13.
115. Jonas Rickaert (BEL/ADC) 28 : 13.
116. Marco Haller (AUT/BOH) 28 : 13.
117. Stan Dewulf (BEL/ACT) 28 : 13.
118. Soren Kragh Andersen (DEN/ADC) 28 : 13.
119. Benoît Cosnefroy (FRA/ACT) 28:13.
120. Lawson Craddock (USA/JAY) 28 : 13.
121. Luka Mezgec (SLO/JAY) 28 : 13.
122. Danny van Poppel (NED/BOH) 28 : 26.
123. Florian Vermeersch (BEL/LTD) 28 : 31.
124. Simon Guglielmi (FRA/ARK) 28:35.
125. Rasmus Tiller (NOR/UXT) 28: 35.
126. Magnus Cort (DEN/EFE) 28:39.
127. Caleb Ewan (AUS/LTD) 29:30.
128. Peter Sagan (SVK/TEN) 29: 34.
129. Christophe Laporte (FRA/TJV) 29 : 38.
130. Tim Declercq (BEL/SOQ) 29:45.
131. Dion Smith (NZL/ICW) 30 : 16.
132. Kevin Vermaerke (USA/DSM) 30:16.
133. Ben Turner (GBR/IGD) 30: 17.
134. Quinn Simmons (USA/LTK) 30 : 22.
135. Jonas Gregaard (DEN/UXT) 30 : 37.
136. Fred Wright (GBR/TBV) 30 : 49.
137. Christopher Juul-Jensen (DEN/JAY) 30 : 54.
138. Andrey Amador (CRC/EFE) 31 : 06.
139. Silvan Dillier (SUI/ADC) 31 : 10.
140. Frederik Frison (BEL/LTD) 32 : 12.
141. Rémi Cavagna (FRA/SOQ) 32:14.
142. Axel Zingle (FRA/COF) 32 : 18.
143. Jonas Abrahamsen (NOR/UXT) 32: 18.
144. Ramon Sinkeldam (NED/ADC) 32 : 18.
145. Nils Eekhoff (NED/DSM) 32 : 55.
146. Adrien Petit (FRA/ICW) 33:06.
147. Nans Peters (FRA/ACT) 33: 20.
148. Vegard Laengen (NOR/UAD) 33 : 21.
149. Fabio Jakobsen (NED/SOQ) 33 : 39.
150. Dylan Groenewegen (NED/JAY) 33 : 39.
151. Michael Morkov (DEN/SOQ) 33:39.
152. Elmar Reinders (NED/JAY) 33 : 39.
153. Yves Lampaert (BEL/SOQ) 33 : 44.
154. Søren Wærenskjold (NOR/UXT) 34 : 09.
155. Matteo Trentin (ITA/UAD) 34 : 09.
156. Valentin Ferron (FRA/TEN) 34: 12.
157. Mikkel Bjerg (DEN/UAD) 34 : 47.
158. Sam Welsford (AUS/DSM) 35-16.
159. Alexander Kristoff (NOR/UXT) 35 : 16.
160. Luke Durbridge (AUS/JAY) 35 : 30.
161. Jordi Meeus (BEL/BOH) 35 : 42.
162. Luca Mozzato (ITA/ARK) 35 : 51.
163. John Degenkolb (GER/DSM) 36 : 18.
164. Alexander Edmondson (AUS/DSM) 37:07.
165. Laurent Pichon (FRA / ARK) 37: 25.
166. Olivier Le Gac (FRA/GFC) 38:39.
167. Phil Bauhaus (GER/TBV) 39:41.
168. Jacopo Guarnieri (ITA/LTD) 39 : 47.
169. Jasper De Buyst (BEL/LTD) 40: 24.
170. Alexis Renard (FRA/COF) 41 : 07.
171. Mark Cavendish (GBR/AST) 41 : 38.
172. Cees Bol (NED/AST) 41: 38.
173. Gianni Moscon (ITA/AST) 43 : 10.
174. Yevgeniy Fedorov (KAZ/AST) 44 : 34.
