The first stage of the Tour de France 2023 in France (and the third since the start of hostilities) goes to a Belgian. Jasper Philipsen (rider for the Alpecin team) won the sprint on Monday July 3 in Bayonne. He stole the stage from German Phil Bauhaus and Australian Caleb Ewan, second and third respectively. Britain’s Adam Yates (UAE) retained the leader’s yellow jersey.
It’s the third stage victory for the 25-year-old Belgian in the Tour de France. Ideally launched by his team-mate Mathieu van der Poel, he won with a comfortable margin, his main competitor, Fabio Jakobsen, quickly admitting defeat.
Before validating his victory, the marshals watched the end of the sprint in which Philipsen lightly crushed the Belgian Wout van Aert against the barriers. They judged that the maneuver was not illegal, to the great relief of Philipsen who was watching the slow motion images himself on a small screen in the company of… Tadej Pogacar with whom he is very good friends.
Briton Mark Cavendish missed his first opportunity to beat the record for victories on the Grande Boucle which he holds with Eddy Merckx (34 successes). He will be able to try his luck again on Tuesday during the fourth stage also favorable to a sprint finish on the Nogaro racing circuit.
After two hotly contested stages in the Basque Country, where the best competed at the start, the peloton decided to spend a quiet day on Monday to reach France, on a 193.5 km course. The American Neilson Powless went on the attack immediately to consolidate his best climber’s polka dot jersey, accompanied by the Frenchman Laurent Pichon who continued the effort alone until 37 km from the finish. Once the Frenchman was caught, the peloton concentrated as expected on the sprint finish which materialized without a crash in the final.