Philipsen makes it four sprint wins out of four
Stage 11 report: Jasper Philipsen took his fourth stage success in the 2023 Tour de France, winning in Moulins. The Belgian convincingly sprinted clear of closest rival Dylan Groenewegen in the final 100 metres. Jeremy Whittle reports …
The top five on General Classification
Jonas Vingegaard (Jumbo-Visma) 46hr 34min 44sec
Tadej Pogacar (UAE Emirates) +17sec
Jai Hindley (Bora-Hansgrohe) +2min 40sec
Carlos Rodriguez (Ineos Grenadiers) +4min 22sec
Pello Bilbao (Bahrain Victorious) +4min 34sec
The top five on stage 11
1. Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Deceuninck)
2. Dylan Groenewegen (Jayco–AlUla)
3. Phil Bauhaus (Bahrain Victorious)
4. Bryan Coquard (Cofidis)
5. Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek)
Jasper Philipsen wins again ...
The Alpecin-Deceuninck rider showed great patience coming from 10th or 11th place with 200 metres to go to get on the wheel of Dylan Groenewegen, then slingshot past the visibly furious Dutchman to win comfortably. He didn’t get a lead-out from Mathieu van der Poel today and it turns out it he didn’t need one.
Jasper Philipsen wins stage 11 ...
He’s done it again! Philipsen leaves it late to come off the wheel of Dylan Groenewegen and win his fourth stage of this Tour de France by at least a bike-length.
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1km to go: A tightish right turn followed by a left and the riders the flamme rouge. Jasper Philipsen is seventh in the line of riders with Caleb Ewan in close order.
2km to go: The riders hit a massive bridge before negotiating a quarter-turn of roundabout. Lots of sprinters have lost their trains.
3km to go: Dylan Groenewegen’s Jayco–AlUla team have their Dutch rider well placed. Low on confidence, he desperately needs a stage win.
4km to go: Jumbo-Visma are towing the bunch along a tree-lined avenue trying to get a stage win for Wout van Aert.
6km to go: All the big players are coming to the fore near the front of the bunch as today’s race reaches its final stages. There are roundabouts coming up as the speed of the bunch ramps up.
7km to go: The rain is bucketing down again, which could cause problems, not least on the areas of the road that are painted.
10km to go: The riders will have to deal with roundabouts and assorted other street furniture on the streets of Moulins. The final wo kilometres are completely flat and there are a couple of turns – one left, one right – and one pinch point before the long, narrow finishing straight.
12km to go: Oss is finally caught and I’m sure nobody will be happier with that than him. Chapeau, Daniel. Hopefully he’ll get on the podium to collect today’s combativity prize (his race number encased in perspex) as a reward for his effort.
14km to go: Daniel Oss is still out there but the gap is down to 10 seconds. Caleb Ewan is visible near the front of the bunch, having psent most of this afternoon towards the rear.
21km to go: The rain seems to have abated and various teams have got themselves into position at the front of the peloton before the very serious business of the stage conclusion begins. The riders of Alexander Kristoff’s Uno-X team are lined up on the left side of the road.
27km to go: The rain is torrential but the suggestion from the Eurosport met office is that this is merely a shower and won’t last long.
28km to go: Today’s sacrificial lamb, Daniel Oss, has fewer than 30 kilometres to go as it starts hammering down with rain. The gap is 45 seconds.
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35km to go: A reminder that today will be the last chance the sprinters have to contest a stage until stage 18 into Bourg-en-Bresse. Stage 19 and the final one into Paris are also extremely sprinter-friendly, for those of the fast-men who make it through the Alps.
36km to go: Somebody in the Jumbo-Visma team car gets on the horn to tell their riders that they’re pleased to see them at the front of the bunch, surrounding their leader. “Make sure you stay there now because it will be very nervous from now to the end of the race,” he says.
41km to go: Daniel Oss remains out in front with a lead hovering around the 25-second mark as various teams start getting their ducks in a row in the peloton. The stage will almost certainly be one of Jasper Philipsen, Dylan Groenewegen, Wout van Aert, Caleb Ewan or Fabio Jakobsen but every member of each of their teams will have their own jobs to do in order to deliver their man to the line.
44km to go: At the head of the race, Daniel Oss has been left on his own in front after Andrey Amador decided to return to the sanctuary of the peloton. Alpecin-Deceuninck take over at the front of the bunch, where Tim Declercq had put in a massive shift for Soudal-Quick Step.
52km to go: Daniel Oss (TotalEnergies) and Andrey Amador (EF Education-EasyPost), who have started the Tour de France 18 times between them, continue in front with their lead down to 19 seconds.
53km to go: In the breakaway, Arkea-Samsic rider Matis Louvel has had enough and sat up. He’s quickly swallowed up by the bunch.
55km to go: The gap is at 25 seconds and our three breakaway riders keep ploughing their lonely furrow, painfully aware of the futility of the exercise. Jumbo-Visma are at the front of the bunch with Jonas Vingegaard on third wheel.
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63km to go: Daniel Oss (TotalEnergies), Matis Louvel (Arkea-Samsic) and Andrey Amador (EF Education-EasyPost) remain out in front with their lead at 36 seconds. Back in the bunch, Caleb Ewan is right at the back. The leaders are at the beginning of the final climb of the stage, the category four Côte de la Croix Blanche. Pogacar and Vingegaard move to the front of the bunch, just in case anyone tries anything.
68km to go: It’s spitting down with rain as Tim Declercq continues to lead the peloton along. “The stress level really increases a lot right now because of that,” says Eurosport commentator Jens Voigt. “Hopefully it dries out.” It’s at this point riders start battling to be at the front of the peloton.
69km to go: The gap is at 32 seconds.
73km to go: “I miss the guy on the back of the motorcycle with the hand written time gaps,” writes Paul Lippe from Santa Monica. I think he still exists, Paul, even if race radio has made his position somewhat redundant. On Sunday’s stage, Matteo Jorgenson got caught by Michael Woods on the final climb and the disconsolate American said his radio was on the blink so he had to rely on “motorcycle guy” for regular updates of bad news.
79km to go: The gap is down to 48 seconds, while the teams making the pace in the peloton keep chopping and changing. One imagines they’ll be happy enough to leave the three lads out in front although it might have been nice if they’d given them a 10-minute lead and at least a sporting chance of winning the stage.
85km to go: Daniel Oss (TotalEnergies), Matis Louvel (Arkea-Samsic) and Andrey Amador (EF Education-EasyPost) remain out in front but their advantage is just 55 seconds.
90km to go: “Commiserations on live blogging such a snore fest,” writes Toby in Germany, who has no need to commiserate because I have nothing better to do. “To think, only 24 hours ago you were decrying Esteban Chaves’ determination not to give you a moment’s peace!
"The first 10 stages of this Tour have mostly been very exciting - the topsy-turvy drama of yesterday a great example. Credit to the teams, riders, and race organisers for that. Not much comfort for you but, in the context, perhaps it’s no wonder that the riders want to take it easy on these relatively straightforward, relatively flat stages? We saw the same thing on stage 4, I think.
“Just thinking back to Philipsen’s throat-cut gesture yesterday, and how it probably reflected the way all the sprinters felt. They’ll all be expecting their teammates to provide a more enjoyable time of it today, especially with another week of misery before the next bunch sprint finish.”
One from the vaults: A Frenchman and a Briton compare the Tour with Test cricket matches.
93km to go: The gap between our breakaway trio and the bunch has dipped below a minute.
93km to go: And in case you’re interested, for journalists covering the Tour, rest day is laundry day.
94km to go: The gap is at 1min 18sec. “Your running commentary accompanies my morning here in Chicago, thank you!” writes Anne Boubouleix, who is welcome. “Question for you, watching the riders come in yesterday following a gruelling, stifling stage, many blamed not only the heat but the rest day too. What typically is the routine for riders on a rest day?”
To the best of my knowledge, some of the riders enjoy a lie-in, others get to spend some time with their families (possibly including some “special” time with their significant others), there are media duties to attend to for plenty, while sponsors also have to be kept happy. Those who need to get their injuries seen to and almost all of them go out on their bikes, some for up to three or fours hours, just to keep their legs ticking over. Failure to do so can have horrific consequences, by most accounts. Interestingly, some riders would prefer if there were no rest days.
106km to go: With regard to Sue from Suffolk’s email about Philipsen getting abuse, it seems fans of Mark Cavendish and Biniam Girmay have been giving him loads of it on social media after he beat the two sprinters on stage seven and their teams’ complained to the race jury about the (uncontroversial, in my opinion) manner in which he won.
“I could scroll through it for hours, but it doesn’t make you any happier so I’m not going to bother with it either,” he wrote in a newspaper column, which Sue has steered my way. “Those messages certainly don’t throw me off balance.”
🇫🇷 @LouvelMatis takes the 20 points at the IS!
— Tour de France™ (@LeTour) July 12, 2023
🇫🇷 @LouvelMatis prend les 20 points du sprint intermédiaire !#TDF2023 pic.twitter.com/I3GOLJvKaC
108km to go: Back in the bunch, Jasper Philipsen swoops to beat Bryan Coquard, who is second in the competition for the green jersey, on the line at the intermediate sprint.
110km to go: With Jasper Philipsen over 100 points clear in this year’s Green Jersey competition, none of our leading trio are concerned with it. There is, however, €1,500 up for grabs to whoever is first over the line, which goes in the team kitty. Second gets a grand and whoever comes third gets €500. This one goes uncontested and Matis Louvel (Arkea-Samsic) rolls over in first place without breaking sweat.
112km to go: Our breakaway trio are meandering towards the intermediate sprint, which is in a couple of kilometres time.
121km to go: The gap from our lead trio back to the peloton is at 1min 31sec.
126km to go: Soudal-Quick Step have a man – presumably Tim “The Tractor” Declercq putting in a shift at the front of the bunch.
128km to go: To mangle the famous old quote from Withnail & I, the trio of Daniel Oss (TotalEnergies), Matîs Louvel (Arkea-Samsic) and Andrey Amador (EF Education-EasyPost) are in the breakaway by mistake but are continuing their exercise in total futility, presumably under the orders of their bosses. The gap is 1min 43sec.
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Fabio Jakobsen: The Soudal-Quick Step rider had a nightmare day yesterday but managed to finish 10 minutes inside the cut-off time. “Hard,” he told Cycling Weekly. “A hard stage. Not a good day. You hope for it to be better but it wasn’t. I have no idea [why it was so bad]. I have no explanation. Maybe it’s the crash [but] I hope to be better.”
The 26-year-old Dutchman has also confirmed that he’ll be leaving his team after six years once the professional cycling transfer window opens in August. “‘I want to go the Tour and sprint, which won’t happen in the next few years here,” he said. Jakobsen is expected to join DSM-Firmenich, while his current team are building what they hope will be a Grand Tour-winning team around Remco Evenepoel.
135km to go: "What’s with all the negativity I have been seeing online about Philipsen?” asks Sue from Suffolk. “I have obviously missed something.”
Me too, Sue. I haven’t seen anything too negative.
141km to go: Stage 11 so far: Daniel Oss (TotalEnergies), Matîs Louvel (Arkea-Samsic) and Andrey Amador (EF Education-EasyPost) attacked the peloton early in the stage, almost certainly expecting a few more riders to join them. None did and precisely nothing has happened since. The gap is coming down, however. It’s now at 1min 42sec. The peloton are travelling at a fair old lick.
147km to go: Speaking to Jens Voigt, Eurosport’s man following the peloton on the pillion of a motorbike, Andrey Amador’s team boss said he’d expected his rider to get in a break of 14 or 15 riders, but is a little disappointed that it’s only a three-man escape party. He adds that he told him to soldier on regardless, conveying the impression that Amador might not have been so keen. The gap is at 2min 12sec and the breakaway is being kept on a very tight rein.
148km to go: Matîs Louvel is the highest ranked rider in today’s breakaway and needs to win today’s stage by 1hr 5min 31sec to wrestle the yellow jersey from the shoulders of Jonas Vingegaard. It’s unlikely, to say the least.
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150km: Astonishingly bad mental arithmetic on my part means the first climb today is coming up presently and much like today’s second climb, continues it’s upward trajectory once the riders have passed the Tour-designated summit. The breakaway are just beginning their uphill journey now.
153km to go: The Alpecin-Deceuninck team of sprinter Jasper Philipsen move three or four riders to the front of the bunch as the gap goes out to 3min 02sec. They’re pedalling along at 43km per hour.
158km to go: Today’s first climb is the category four Côte de Chaptuzat-Haut, which is 490m high with an average gradient of 5% and 1.9 kilometres in length and quite literally crops up in around 10 kilometres time.
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160km to go: The riders of Alpecin-Deceuninck are at the front of the bunch, where race leader Jonas Vingegaard is also clearly visible. The road is pancake flat and the gap is almost at the three-minute mark. After yesterday’s early fireworks, today has been comparatively sedate.
161km to go: The gap goes out to 2min 16sec, with Amador, Louvel and Oss perhaps questioning the wisdom of their early enthusiasm. They’re in for a long, lonely afternoon.
168km to go: Amador, Louvel and Oss remain out in front while the riders of Lotto-Dstny are towing the peloton along. The gap is out to 1min 48sec.
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174km to go: Amador, Louvel and Daniel Oss (TotalEnergies) have been allowed to escape and have opened a gap of 38 seconds and rising. Strap yourselves in for what promises to be a long, boring afternoon of not a whole lot …
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176km to go: Amador goes again and is joined by Matis Louvel (Arkéa–Samsic). A few more riders try to bridge the gap.
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They're racing on stage 11 ...
178km to go: Christian Prudhomme semaphores the signal to start racing with his trusty yellow flag but today’s start is nothing like as wild as yesterday’s. The Costa Rican rider Andrey Amador (EF Education-EasyPost) tries his luck with a jump off the front but cancels his escape plan when it becomes apparent nobody is interested in joining him.
The roll-out has begun ...
Stage 11 neutral zone: The riders are meandering through Clermont-Ferrand ahead of being given the signal to start racing. Today’s stage isn’t massively flat but not hugely hilly either. We’ll almost certainly have a breakaway but it’s likely to end in a sprint finish. Some of the major sprinters’ may hedge their bets by trying to get men in the breakaway, while the teams of others may try to stop them doing that. It’s the last chance for the sprinters until stage 18, and there’s plenty without a win who will be trying to get one over on Jasper Philipsen today.
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Who's wearing what jersey?
Yellow: Jonas Vingegaard (Jumbo-Visma) 42hr 33min 13sec
Green: Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Deceuninck) 260 points
Polka-dot: Neilson Powless (EF Education-EasyPost)
White: Tadej Pogacar (UAE Emirates)
Bilbao pays tribute to Mäder as Vingegaard retains yellow
Stage 10 report: As he celebrated his first stage win in the Tour de France, Pello Bilbao pointed initially to the sky and then to his heart, in tribute to his former Bahrain Victorious teammate Gino Mäder, who died while descending at speed in the Tour de Suisse less than a month ago. Bilbao won stage 10 to Issoire after outsprinting Georg Zimmermann, racing for Intermarché-Circus-Wanty. Jeremy Whittle reports from Issoire …
The top five on General Classification
Jonas Vingegaard (Jumbo-Visma) 42hr 33min 13sec
Tadej Pogacar (UAE Emirates) +17sec
Jai Hindley (Bora-Hansgrohe) +2min 40sec
Carlos Rodriguez (Ineos Grenadiers) +4min 22sec
Pello Bilbao (Bahrain Victorious) +4min 34sec
Tour de France stage 11: Clermont-Ferrand to Moulins (179.8km)
William Fotheringham on stage 11: A bunch sprint for sure, simply because with so few opportunities the sprinters won’t want to let this one get away. A break will go with riders looking for television time, but they won’t stand a chance. The question here is: which sprinters have survived the Massif Central, and which teams have any firepower left? One thing is certain: we won’t see another mass finish for at least eight days.
