It's that man again! The Belgium phenom Jasper Philipsen makes it four stage wins from just 11 races in the Tour de France 2023, as his fellow sprinters can once again only watch him raise his hand in delight as he crosses the finish line.
Unlike his previous victories on the Tour, this one seemed in little doubt for Philipsen as he put two full bike-lengths between himself and 2nd place Dylan Groenewegen, meanwhile a visibly frustrated Phil Bauhaus reluctantly rounded off the podium.
Norwegian legend Alexander Kristoff attempted to make a claim for the win after his Uno-X Pro teammates put him in a favourable position in the final few hundred metres, however the 36 year-old was quickly swallowed by Groenewegen and Philipsen. The Belgian latched onto Groenewegen's wheel early in the sprint and had more than enough left in the tank to take the sneak the honours from the Dutchman.
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Philipsen and his Alpecin–Deceuninck team would have highlighted this stage at the outset of the tour with a mostly even 180km between Clermont-Ferrand and Moulins. It was seemed like a day for the men with power and it surely panned out in that fashion.
Following his exploits in today's stage, Philipsen has now stretched his green jersey points tally to 323, his closest competitor being French rider Bryan Coquard, who sits 145 points behind. A fair representation of the 25 year-old's dominance on the flat in the Tour so far.
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The admirable efforts of Daniel Oss (TotalEnergies) must be acknowledged as the Italian joined a breakaway of three men 5km into the race, eventually going solo with just 40km left he looked destined to disappear into the main group.
Sticking to his guns, Oss managed to increase his lead to 45 seconds but was eventually caught with 15km to go. It wasn't to be for the 36-year old veteran or his TotalEnergies teammate Peter Sagan as the Slovakian finished 8th in the bunch sprint.
No major changes have appeared in the General Classification post-stage 11 as both the race leader Jonas Vingegaard (18th place) and his closest competitor Tadej Pogacar (20th place) sat safely in the peloton which trailed just 7 seconds behind Philipsen.
Stage 12 is one for the breakaway hopefuls with plenty of challenging climbs ahead as the riders will travel between Roanne and Belleville-en-Beaujolais.
Full Stage & GC Rankings: https://www.letour.fr/en/rankings
