Jasper Philipsen had just been beaten again at the Tour de France when he let his emotions get the better of him, slapping the bonnet of a race organiser’s car. When he returned to his Alpecin-Deceuninck bus, moments after a photofinish confirmed Dylan Groenewegen had edged him out in Dijon, he let out a loud obscenity that was visible to those waiting outside. Something plastic was then heard bouncing across the floor.
There have been three sprint stages in the first six days of the 2024 Tour de France, and Philipsen is yet to win one. Up to five sprint stages remain – possibly six if you add in stage nine’s gravel day – but already the Belgian is failing to retain the title as the race’s sprint king that he has held in the past two editions.
As he sat pondering another loss, worse was then to come for the 26-year-old. Thirty minutes after Groenewegen was celebrating his sixth Tour stage victory – the same number Philipsen also has – the UCI called Alpecin-Deceuninck’s boss Christoph Roodhooft with some bad news: Philipsen had been relegated. The jury's report wrote that he “deviat[ed] from the chosen line by impeding or endangering another rider and [having an] irregular sprint.” Accusations of dangerous sprinting are often levelled at Philipsen, and this time the race jury agreed.
Any hope he’d be speaking to the press was duly extinguished; Philipsen, a self-described bad loser who once told this publication that when he lost a game of football as a child “I would be crying on the pitch”, was now raging. Likewise, Roodhooft, was prickly and tense. “Disappointed,” the team’s sporting manager summarised his sprinter's emotions in one word.
Philipsen hasn’t been far off – put aside the disqualification to 107th, he has finished second two stages in a row – but second and third are quickly becoming his default positions; nine times this season he has occupied the lesser spots on the podium, in contrast to four victories, only two of which have been at stage races. He’s no longer feared by his adversaries.
“Why is pressure needed?” Roodhoft asked rhetorically, vexed by a journalist’s question. “He’s been two times second, so for me it’s all going OK until now. Winning a stage is not easy. From two chances he didn’t go too bad. He did not win, but he’s not alone in trying to win a sprint stage. Our first goal was of course to have a stage victory. He did a good intermediate [sprint, winning ahead of Biniam Girmay], and he was second here, but he didn’t win.”
Roodhooft was attempting to paint an optimistic picture, but he couldn’t resist expressing his anger over Philipsen’s relegation and the consequence it has in the points classification for which his fastman now sits fourth on 85 points, 64 fewer than Girmay. “For the green [jersey] we came on schedule, but now it’s no longer in our hands,” he said. “It has to fall apart everywhere now. It’s not up to him anymore.”
An edginess was palpable when Roodhooft spoke, but Philipsen’s teammates were less pessimistic. Mathieu van der Poel, the world champion, said that Alpecin produced “the perfect leadout”. On a personal level, he “felt good – I finally had punch in the legs.” The day before, when Mark Cavendish scored his historic 35th stage victory, Van der Poel said he “lacked a bit of punch in the end… and lost some momentum. But today my legs felt way better and the team did its job again.”
The next chance Philipsen’s team will get the opportunity to amass at the head of the peloton in preparation for a sprint will be Saturday’s stage eight, and there was no panic from Søren Kragh Andersen regarding the plan.
“The first goal of sprint teams is that the sprinter is sprinting,” the Dane said. “I think we did a good job and if he’s second, close to the win, we put him [in a position to be] able to sprint. It’s a work in progress.”
After the first rest day, four more sprint chances at most remain, and if Philipsen still hasn’t chalked a win on the scoreboard, the pressure and tension will start mounting. “We’re still hungry,” Andersen said. “There are a lot of chances this year for sprinters.”
