Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Deceuninck) has taken his second stage win, on consecutive days, at the Tour de France; the Belgian rider just getting the better of a very fast-finishing Caleb Ewan (Lotto Dstny) on the motor racing circuit finish in Nogaro.
While the wide track gave the riders plenty of room to move around there was crash carnage in the wake of the fastest riders at the front of the bunch, with multiple spills in the final 3km of the stage. Fabio Jakobsen (Soudal-QuickStep), who was fancied to fight for the stage victory, was among the fallers.
Luis León Sánchez, who was playing a valuable role in trying to position his Astana team mate, Mark Cavendish, in the finals also came down and reports suggest he broke his collarbone.
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However, there were no such troubles for Philipsen up front, who was again expertly led out by his team mate Mathieu van der Poel. Philipsen just about held off Ewan, who also looks in great form and is likely to win a stage at some point.
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Phil Bauhaus (Bahrain-Victorious) finished just behind the winner and runner-up for 3rd, with Bryan Coquard (Cofidis) 4th and Cavendish 5th; the latter showing the form that may win him the 35th stage of his career, which would be a new all-time record, though the loss of Sanchez is a blow.
Adam Yates (UAE Team Emirates), still leads overall by six seconds from team mate Tadej Pogačar, with his brother Simon Yates (Jayco AlUla) in 3rd, also at six seconds. Philipsen has now taken the green jersey of points classification leader while Neilson Powless (EF Education-EasyPost) retained the climbers' jersey.
Tomorrow's stage 5 takes the riders 162.7km from Pau to Laruns, taking in the Col de Marie-Blanque as the race hits the Pyrenees. The crest of that climb, the first cat 1 mountain of Tour 2023, is passed some 19km from the finish line.
