Key Takeaways: Tour de France Stage 7
Breaking down how the hectic and high-speed sprint in Bordeaux was won
Jasper Philipsen won the high-speed, and hectic, sprint in Bordeaux ahead of Mark Cavendish and Biniam Girmay with an impressive display of race awareness, raw fitness, and speed. The young Belgian, who is now the sport’s undisputed top sprinter, flexed a deadly combination of skill and power when his Alpecin leadout fell apart late in the race and he was forced to improvise by jumping on the wheel of a late-surging Mark Cavendish before cruising by the 38-year-old legend with apparent ease inside the final few meters of the race to win his third sprint stage of the 2023 Tour de France.
Cavendish was understandably devastated by the defeat since he went from appearing like he had the all-time Tour de France stage win record in hand, to being passed by a flying Philipsen, in a matter of just a few meters after suffering from mechanical issues during his sprint effort. The loss meant that Cavendish, who, in a twist of poetic symmetry, won on the exact same finish against the aging Alessandro Petacchi 13 Tours ago, is quickly running out of chances to eclipse Eddy Merckx as the all-time Tour de France stage win record holder.
Jonas Vingegaard easily defended his race lead as the GC contenders took advantage of the stage to catch their breath between their recent action-packed trip into the Pyrenees and the tricky Massif Central looming over the weekend.
Stage Top Five:
1) Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin) +0
2) Mark Cavendish (Astana) +0
3) Biniam Girmay (Intermarché) +0
4) Luca Mozzato (Arkéa) +0
5) Dylan Groenewegen (Jayco) +0
Current GC Top Five:
1) Jonas Vingegaard (Jumbo) +0
2) Tadej Pogačar (UAE) +25
3) Jai Hindley (Bora) +1’34
4) Simon Yates (Jayco) +3’14
5) Carlos Rodríguez (Ineos) +3’30
Points Jersey Top Three
1) Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin) - 275 pts
2) Byran Coquard (Cofidis) - 127 pts
3) Mark Cavendish (Astana) - 99 pts
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Stage 7 Race Notebook:
74.2km: After the intermediate sprint (won by Biniam Girmay), the gap to the early breakaway, which is comprised of a single Arkea rider, drops to under a minute. Two strong riders, Nans Peters and Pierre LaTour, take advantage of this small gap and jump across. The addition of fresh riders to the breakaway will now make the chase much harder, and we see why it is important for sprinter’s teams to keep breakaways at a distance until the final few kilometers.
3.5km: Coming into the tricky final few kms, Jumbo is on the front, with Jonas Vingegaard all the way up in second wheel, which shows us the lengths they are willing to go to keep Vingegaard out of crashes.
800m: Inside the final km, Alpecin and Van der Poel once again have Philipsen in a clean position at the front, while his rivals fight for wheels behind. Notice the absurd speed of 72km/h (45mph).
550m: When Mads Pedersen’s Trek teammate peels off at the front, Van der Poel moves up to take over the pacemaking. Philipsen moves into second wheel, which would normally be too far forward at this distance to the finish line, but with Van der Poel able to take such long pulls on the front, he has been able to get away with this. Cavendish is forced to break and is immediately shuffled back and out of sight.
450m: Van der Poel continues his high pace on the front while Groenewegen moves up on the left side behind a teammate. Girmay lurks behind the group and begins eyeing the gap against the barriers on the right side of the road.
350m: Van der Poel continues his high pace on the front with Philipsen tucked into second wheel. Groenewegen is also well positioned behind Pedersen, while Cavendish is still out of sight.
250m: Van der Poel is still on the front for Philipsen, but he starts to run out of gas earlier than in past stages, which means the pace comes off, and drifts over to the left-hand side of the road. This drifting opens up the road right in front of Cavendish and the pace decrease allows him to surge forward and quickly recover from his position in no-man’s land.
200m: Sensing that the slowing of the pace has provided a golden opportunity, Cavendish launches his sprint on the right hand side of the road. Philipsen, after finding himself stranded on the front after Van der Poel pulled off, smartly jumps on Cavendish’s wheel, while Girmay tries to go up the barriers, but is pinched by Philipsen, who uses his now trademark move of pinning riders who are trying to move up against the barriers, and is forced to break. Groenewegen’s sprint quickly falls apart when he drifts too far back and is tangled up with Jordi Meeus.
100m-Finish: Philipsen is able to quickly recover from his reaction to Cavendish and springs off his wheel towards the line. Cavendish is forced to sit down due to his chain jumping through his cogs, which means he can’t compete with the raw closing speed of Philipsen, who crosses the line for an impressive win.
Key Takeaways
1) Once again, Jasper Philipsen wins a sprint with unbeatable speed that stems from his all-around strength as a rider
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