Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Deceuninck) sprinted to his second stage victory on Friday, ahead of Wout van Aert (Visma-Lease a Bike) and Pascal Ackermann (Israel-Premier Tech). Biniam Girmay still leads the Green jersey points competition by 75 points ahead of Philipsen.
Philipsen explained afterwards how hard the stage was. “It was full throttle from the start, the peloton never stopped. There were echelons and a large group came up front. We had two riders with us, with (teammates) Mathieu and Axel Laurance. I thought they would make it, but the peloton just kept going. I kept believing in it myself, because the feeling was good, much better than in the past weeks.”
Philipsen seems to have found his form, saying, “I had my best day so far in this Tour de France. We did not have the best start. In terms of feeling and with some bad luck. But I am happy that we were able to turn it around. With two stage wins, it is not a bad Tour. Do I want more? You always want that. But you have to take it day by day and enjoy today’s win.”
Van Aert was critical of his sprint. “It was really in the cards today, too bad I let it go. I was well-placed thanks to the work of Christophe Laporte and we went through the last corner together. But I had already had to waste some serious energy today and came into the wind a bit too early, so I waited a bit longer. Then I was already afraid that someone would come from behind at speed. I saw Jasper Philipsen go in the corner of my eye and started my sprint, but I couldn’t catch him. That’s a sprint. Everything has to be right. The fault lies with us.”
Arnaud De Lie was in a good position for the sprint but was caught behind a crash that forced him to come to a stop. “As always, someone was looking behind them. That’s how it always goes. In a sprint, you should always look forward, never behind them. I hope everyone is okay, but I could easily not be in the Tour now. I didn’t crash myself, not quite. I’m happy with that.”
RESULTS
Stage 13: Agen › Pau (165.3km)
Results powered by FirstCycling.com
