Jasper Philipsen took his second stage win in the 2024 Tour de France in Pau after a spate of failed attacks in the final kilometres paved the way for yet another dash to the line. The Belgian avoided a nasty crash in the final kilometre to hold off Jonas Vingegaard’s Visma Lease-a-bike team-mate Wout Van Aert in the Place de Verdun.
As the peloton entered the last five kilometres, Vingegaard’s team was working hard to protect their leader, with both the race leader Tadej Pogacar and second placed Remco Evenepeol also seeking to avoid the kind of mishap that had put paid to Primoz Roglic’s overall challenge 24 hours earlier.
In the final stage before the Tour enters the Pyrenees for back-to-back summit finishes on Saturday and Sunday, the sprinters and their teams had been expected to dominate the race, but that was far from the case as average speeds close to 50km/h, allied to volatile conditions, combined to fracture the peloton on several occasions.
There may have only been two fourth category climbs on the route, but the gusting crosswinds played havoc with the riders almost from the off. Attack after attack led to a series of splits and frantic chases, with the top three on the general classification, Pogacar, Evenepoel and Vingegaard, highly active on every occasion.
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High speeds, incessant attacks and an undulating run-in to Pau put paid to the hopes of several of the leading sprinters, including Mark Cavendish, who fell behind after he was cut adrift in a small group. It was another ill-fated day for the record-breaking stage winner, who was in one of the groups distanced by attacks in the crosswinds, just under 60km from Pau.
After crashes on consecutive stages, Roglic, second overall in the 2020 Tour, did not start the Tour’s 13th stage. The Slovenian had slipped to sixth overall after crashing on Thursday and his team said he quit the Tour to focus on “future goals”.
“Primoz underwent careful examination by our medical team after yesterday’s stage and again this morning,” the Bora Hansgrohe team said, before the stage start in Agen. “The decision has been taken that he will not start.”
As Cavendish had suggested on Thursday morning, Covid-19 is once more stalking the peloton and Pogacar’s UAE Team Emirates squad was significantly weakened after one of his key climbing lieutenants, Juan Ayuso, quit the race due to the virus.
The defending champion Vingegaard was also seen wearing a face mask, at the start of the stage, but said that it was merely “a precaution”.
Ireland’s Ben Healy came home 34th on the stage and moved up two places to 14th on general classification. Sam Bennett placed 144th on the day and remains 147th overall. – Guardian
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