Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Deceuninck) claimed his third stage victory by several bike lengths ahead of Phil Bauhaus (Bahrain Victorious) who was second, and Alexander Kristoff (Uno-X) who rounded out the podium in third.
Philipsen was quite pleased to have found success again in this year’s Tour. “I’m very happy after such a team effort. It’s always nice to win together and that’s what we did today. We were always good with the team and trying to position ourselves. I didn’t see the crash, but I hope everyone is OK. I felt good today, I had a good rest day and I already felt that my form was getting better and better this Tour, so we had a lot of confidence today. Anything is possible, but it will be difficult (to take the Green jersey). Girmay is climbing very well this Tour. He does not deserve to lose the green jersey like this. We will try everything to win, but there are tough stages coming up. We will take it day by day, but first we will celebrate this victory.”
Bauhaus was satisfied with his second place. “The sprint preparation went well. Jack (Haig) in particular did a really good job. He kept us well ahead from kilometre zero to the finale. Matej (Mohoric) and Nikias (Arndt) then brought me forward really well. They guided me through the roundabouts and corners. I prefer a more technical finale. That way I can follow in the wheel more easily. I am more than happy with this second place. Philipsen was much faster in the sprint.”
Kristoff thought the lead-in to the sprint was a bit wild and that he would’ve had a better chance leading the sprint from the front. “It was a particularly hectic final with all those roundabouts. We did well as a team, but unfortunately we didn’t manage to stay together. We were riding with three men in front and behind them was the Alpecin-Deceuninck train. Søren Wærenskjold and I were behind him again. That was decisive today. If I had been in front of Jasper, I might have been able to hold him off. He was very fast, but then I would have had a better chance.”
Wout van Aert didn’t have the legs to be in contention. “I was doing well with Christophe at first. However, in the final kilometre there were a few roundabouts and they were very treacherous. One kilometre from the finish there was a really serious roundabout. There was a bit of an elbow fight there. That made us lose momentum and I also lost Christophe as a lead-out. That’s a shame. After that I had a clear path to sprint, but I didn’t have the legs to come any closer.”
RESULTS
Stage 16: Gruissan > Nîmes (188.6km)
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