Second consecutive victory for Philipsen just before the Pyrenees

An anodyne transition day in the Tour de France 2023 in which the riders sought to regain strength after the intense Basque start in the only respite they have left before facing, tomorrow and the day after, the Pyrenees. Jasper Philipsen dominated the sprint, again, thanks to a superb launch by Mathieu van der Poel.

Jasper Philipsen repeats in the Tour de France 2023

How often do we hear the Tour de France broadcasts associated with those enjoyable naps on hot summer afternoons. As much as it may bother us cycling fans, today the race has stuck to this script with a stage with a total lack of combativeness on the part of some cyclists who, surely, had their minds on the next two days, authentic great stages through some of the hardest passes in the Pyrenees.

A day of 182 kilometers that led the peloton from Dax to the Paul Armagnac de Nogaro speed circuit, a region that always brings back memories of one of the illustrious inhabitants of the area, Luis Ocaña, the man from La Mancha who dared to stand up to Eddy Merckx himself.

As we said at the beginning, this was a bland stage in which there were not even attempts to find the breakaway of the day. The peloton rode at a cyclotourist pace for most of the stage. Only with 86 kilometers to go, Arkéa-Samsic's Anthony Delaplace and AG2R-Citroën's Benoit Cosnefroy broke away from the big group. More for show than to look for any chance of victory, clearly impossible with the peloton's strength intact.

A mini breakaway that lasted until the peloton decided to neutralize them with 23 kilometers to go when the teams woke up from lethargy to start preparing for the finish. Preparations that, just like yesterday, left us with the image of a helpless Mark Cavendish who, in his quest for the record number of stage victories in the Tour, was barely supported by a willing Luis León Sánchez who did his best to keep him well positioned.

An eventful finish already on the asphalt of the Paul Armagnac circuit with many riders trying to get a good position which, combined with the tight turns of a speed circuit, turned the last two kilometers into a real trap. Fabio Jakobsen, who crashed with just 1,600 m to go, and Luis León Sánchez, who fell a few curves further on with such bad luck that he fractured his collarbone, forcing him to say goodbye to this Tour de France 2023.

In the final straight Uno-X left Alexander Kristoff in an unbeatable position, also launched almost at the same time the arrival Mark Cavendish. However, no one was counting on the appearance, from the depths of the group, of a portentous Mathieu van der Poel with Jasper Philipsen stuck in his wake. Just 30 or 40 meters with an acceleration worthy of Formula 1 that, once again, left the victory on a platter to the Alpecin-Fenix rider who crossed the line in first place with solvency, despite the great sprint of Caleb Ewan.

Stage Classification 4

1. Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Deceuninck) 4h25’28’’
2. Caleb Ewan (Lotto-Dstny) +00’’
3. Phil Bauhaus (Bahrain Victorius) +00’’
4. Bryan Coquard (Cofidis) +00’’
5. Mark Cavendish (Astana) +00’’
6. Danny Van Poppel (Bora-Hansgrohe) +00’’
7. Alexander Kristoff (Uno-X) +00’’
8. Luika Mezgec (Jayco-AlUla) +00’’
9. Wout van Aert (Jumbo-Visma) +00’’
10. Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek) +00’’

Overall Classification

1. Adam Yates (UAE Team Emirates) 18h18’01’’
2. Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates) +06’’
3. Simon Yates (Jayco AlUla) +06’’
4. Victor Lafay (Cofidis) +12’’
5. Wout van Aert (Jumbo-Visma) +16’’
6. Jonas Vingegaard (Jumbo-Visma) +17’’
7. Jai Hindley (Bora-Hansgrohe) +22’’
8. Michael Woods (Israel-PremierTech) +22’’
9. Mattias Skjelmose (Lidl-Trek) +22’’
10. Carlos Rodríguez (INEOS Grenadiers) +22’’