Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Deceuninck) has apologised to Wout van Aert (Visma-Lease a Bike) after deviating in his sprint on stage 6 of the Tour de France, forcing his Belgian compatriot to brake in the final sprint to Dijon to avoid going into the barriers.
The defending green jersey winner at the Tour was relegated for his action in the flat finish after crossing the line in second behind Dylan Groenewegen (Jayco AlUla). His initial assessment was anger at himself for losing the stage, before finding out he had been relegated to 107th, fined 500CHF and lost more green jersey points.
Despite team manager Christoph Roodhooft saying, "I didn't think it was a manoeuvre that 100% justifies the declassification” after the stage, Philipsen this morning was at peace with the decision of the jury and responded to the incident on his Instagram.
“Of course, I’m disappointed to be relegated yesterday after a very hectic sprint I want to apologise to Wout van Aert. I was in no way trying to box him in or force him into the barriers on purpose,” said Philipsen.
“Like every sprinter, I’m super competitive and want to win every sprint stage but not at all costs to another rider’s safety.”
Van Aert responded angrily to Sporza after the stage, with the incident reminding him of a similar action taken by Philipsen on the opening sprint stage of the 2023 race. On that occasion in Bayonne, Philipsen wasn’t relegated, leading Van Aert to plead for a change in decision-making before the relegation was confirmed yesterday.
“I was once again boxed in by Jasper Philipsen in the sprint, everyone saw that. That is a bad habit of his,” said Van Aert.
"I'm especially glad that I stayed upright. But if there's no sanction, that would make me angry. They shouldn't throw him out of the Tour, but he should be declassified.
“If they don't punish that severely, everyone thinks that anything goes. It's an increasingly big problem."
Philipsen, who alongside his Alpecin-Deceuninck lead-out train, has built up a reputation as an aggressive sprinter, mainly thanks to Netflix’s Tour de France: Unchained, was quick to state that while contact will happen in Tour de France sprints, it would never be a conscious move that endangered another sprinter.
“What we do as sprinters is already the “highest stakes poker” you can play as a cyclist but I would never consciously ride in such a way that it endangered another rider,” he said.
“I can’t say there won’t be some contact because that is all part of sprinting at the highest level. And there is no higher level than at the Tour de France.”
Van Aert later commented on Philipsen's post, simply stating "Apology accepted".
Philipsen is zero from three in Tour de France sprints in 2024, failing to live up to his four victories and green jersey from the 2023 race. With this drama with Van Aert closed, his next chance to sprint will come on the uphill drag to the line in Colombey-les-Deux-Eglises on stage 8.
“Once again, a big thank you to the team, not only for supporting me during the race but also afterwards. Tomorrow we go again,” said Philipsen. “I’ll keep trying to win as fast and fairly as I can.”
Get unlimited access to all of our coverage of the Tour de France - including breaking news and analysis reported by our journalists on the ground from every stage of the race as it happens and more. Find out more.
