Belgium’s Jasper Philipsen wins a stage for the first time in Tour de France After outperforming his rivals on stage 15, overall leader Jonas Weingard had a bad day on Sunday.
The Alpsin-Desininc rider Philipsen took the lead in perfect timing, beating compatriot Voet van Aert and Denmark’s Mads Pedersen, who were second and third respectively.
“This is the biggest victory I might dream of,” said Phillipsen. “I was close a few times last year and our goal was to win this year. There were very few chances for the sprinters, so you had to be patient.”
Wengard retained the yellow jersey for the general standings, but had an accident and lost two of his Jumbo-Visma teammates, as Stephen Krusvik withdrew due to an accident, and Primosh Roglic did not start the 202.5 km stage from Rhodes in the absence of recovery from injuries.
With the temperature reaching more than 40 degrees Celsius, organizers sprayed sections of the road with water to cool the air before the runners passed.
After the race, Ineos rider Tom Bidcock threw himself into a fountain to reduce the effects of the heat.
Wengard, the leader in the general classification, collided with his colleague Tish Bennott, but he returned to continue his career and is still two minutes and 22 seconds ahead of defending champion Taddy Bugacher.
“It was not a good day,” the 25-year-old said. “Today was not the best because Stephen and Primusch went out.”
“I don’t know exactly what happened. Tish had an accident in front of me, and I mightn’t have avoided it. This is a sport bikes. I only had bruises on my left side. I’m fine but it wasn’t a good day.”
Two French riders, Alexis Jugaard and Benjamin Thomas, tried to attack 48 km from the end, and Thomas was close to winning but slipped in the last 500 metres, keeping France waiting to win the first stage of the current edition of the race.
The runners will take a break from the Tour de France on Monday.
