The king of the sprint is him: the Belgian Jasper Philipsen who won his third victory in just seven stages on Friday July 7 in Bordeaux with a new show of force along the quays of the Garonne. “It’s a dream lap for us, it’s already the third stage win. We can be proud of the performance of the team, “he reacted to the microphone of France 2 at the end of the stage. “It’s nice to win in a team where there’s a good atmosphere. We’re having a lot of fun, everything is going well and we’re having fun,” he added.
Philipsen won clearly ahead of Briton Mark Cavendish and Eritrean Biniam Girmay in a bunch sprint. Dane Jonas Vingegaard retains the yellow jersey at the end of this flat stage run in very hot weather.
?A terrific finish in Bordeaux that sees @JasperPhilipsen take his 3rd win of the
Winner in Bayonne and Nogaro, Philipsen won his third success since leaving on July 1 in the Spanish Basque Country. Counting his successes last year at the end of the Tour in Carcassonne and on the Champs-Élysées, the Belgian even won in the last five massive sprints disputed on the Grande Boucle. He deprived Mark Cavendish of a historic success by styling him in the last meters. The Briton, winner in Bordeaux in 2010 when the Tour last came to the Gironde city, aims to break the record for stage victories in the Tour de France which he currently shares with Eddy Merckx (34). The Isle of Man veteran tried his luck in the last 100 meters but had to sit down, stunned by the effort, before being swallowed by Philipsen.
After two hotly contested stages in the Pyrenees, the peloton first took time on Friday behind Frenchman Simon Guglielmi who broke away. Joined by Nans Peters and Pierre Latour, the Arkéa-Samsic runner, combative of the day, was caught 37 km from the goal. The other two Frenchmen continued their effort and Latour was the last to be swallowed up by the teams of sprinters, 3.5 km from the finish along the quays of the Garonne.
