TOUR DE FRANCE 2024 | STAGE 10 | ORLÉANS > SAINT-AMAND-MONTROND
SAINT-AMAND-MONTROND, France (July 9, 2024) — A sublime finish from Jasper Philipsen gave the Alpecin – Deceuninck rider and 2023 winner of the green jersey a stylish win in a bunch sprint in Saint-Amand-Montrond on Stage 10. Philipsen was superbly led out by his World Champion teammate Mathieu van der Poel to put him in a great position to beat Biniam Girmay (Intermarché-Wanty) and Pascal Ackermann (Israel-Premier Tech) to the line, for his first victory at this year’s Tour. On a relatively relaxed stage for the GC riders the threats of crosswinds strong enough to disrupt the peloton did not materialise and therefore there were no changes amongst the top men. After ten days of racing at this year’s Tour, Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates) remains in control in the Yellow Jersey, still 33” in front of Remco Evenepoel (Soudal Quick-Step) and 1’15” ahead of Jonas Vingegaard (Team Visma | Lease a Bike) in the general classification.
A relaxed start to the day
Following the withdrawal from the race of Aleksandr Vlasov (Red Bull – BORA – hansgrohe), due to an ankle fracture sustained in a crash on Stage 9, 172 riders were on the start line in Orleans, ready to do battle over the 187.3 km route to Saint-Amand-Montrond. Any candidates for the breakaway were in no rush at the start of the stage as the peloton advanced from Orleans at a moderate 37.2 km/h average speed in the first hour of racing.
Philipsen first in intermediate bunch sprint
A brief excursion for two teams with intermediate sprint interests saw Intermarché – Wanty’s Kobe Goossens and Lotto Dstny’s Harm Vanhoucke and Maxim Van Gils break clear. Van Gils soon sat up, but Goossens reached the point of the intermediate sprint first, followed by Vanhoucke. When the peloton arrived the bunch sprint was therefore for third place, which was taken by Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Deceuninck) for 15 points, two more than green jersey Biniam Girmay (Intermarché-Wanty), who followed Philipsen over the line.
No major disruptions caused by crosswinds
The approach to and passage through Issoudun (km 125.3) agitated the peloton somewhat, due to the possibility of echelons, but the expected crosswinds were not fierce enough to considerably disrupt the progress of the GC and sprinters’ teams. So it was ultimately on to a bunch sprint for an exciting finale in Saint-Amand-Montrond, with Philipsen proving too hot to handle for his rivals and able to take a memorable victory with the powerful assistance of Van der Poel.
Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin – Deceuninck): “Five Sprints Without Winning Was Too Many”
“I think we can speak of relief. Last week wasn’t great for us. Maybe we didn’t approach the Tour in our best condition, but we’re improving and we can finally show what we came for. Today we knew that the last corner could be tricky and we took it well. I was launched perfectly. I’m happy with the way we’re starting this second week. We are already on the tenth stage and we had done five sprints without winning, it was too many. But the whole team continued to believe in it and they deserve this victory. For the green jersey, Biniam Girmay started very strong. He is a lot of points ahead. Before thinking about the points classification, we first wanted a stage victory. Now that we have it, we will see what is still possible for the green jersey.”
Biniam Girmay (Intermarché-Wanty): “On Flat Sprints I Am in The Best Shape Of My Life”
“Absolutely, I’m super happy. A flat sprint and everybody was really fresh. For me personally with my physique, to be second in this kind of finish it’s almost a victory. I’m super happy because the points were so close today, which means I don’t lose many points. For the next days there are not really going to be too many sprints so I have a few good options to take some points. I would say that for sure on flat sprints I am in the best shape of my life. I also feel good legs. This year I worked super hard for the flat sprint stages and now to see myself doing a great job, I’m really proud.”
Jonas Abrahamsen (Uno-X Mobility): “I Will Try All That I Can to Keep The Jersey”
“My intention was for me to help the lead-out of my team by pulling with 3 kilometres to go, as we were supporting Alexander Kristoff for the stage win. I’m happy I could do it as planned. I will try to keep the jersey, but it will be really difficult for me tomorrow, with a lot of climbs but I will try. Then it would be possible to keep it for some more days, so I will try all that I can to keep the jersey for as long as possible. My first priority is to get in the breakaway and then I will see if I am there. I’ll be lucky to have the jersey after tomorrow, but I feel so lucky to have had this jersey since the first day, it’s a very big thing for me.”
Remco Evenepoel (Soudal Quick-Step): “We Can Expect There to Be Two Races Tomorrow”
“It was almost like a second day off. I was a little nervous because of the risk of echelons in the cross winds, but my team remained vigilant all day. In the end, there were no gaps to deal with, nor any crashes, so everything went well. We can expect a great fight tomorrow for the breakaway. We know it’s not an easy route, it goes up and down all the time. We can expect that there will be two races, one for the breakaway and one for the general classification. I think Romain Bardet will be extremely motivated to try to win, I hope for him that he will at least manage to get a position at the front to try his luck.”
Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates): “Tomorrow’s Stage Is Long and Hard”
“It is never easy to get on the bike and race after the rest day. Luckily it was an easy stage, especially in the first part. We didn’t ride the whole time at the front because we found it a bit unnecessary. It’s good to be at the front when things are tricky, but otherwise you can get in stressful situations that can result in crashes for no reason. We all knew there was a point on which there could be crosswinds, and therefore all teams tried to hit the front at the same time. Then the wind was not strong enough, so there weren’t any splits. It’s better this way. Echelons are fun to watch on TV, yet they are the worst if you are caught on the wrong side of them. Today there was nothing to do GC-wise, yet tomorrow’s stage comes with a question mark. It is long and hard. I haven’t done any recon of the course, yet I remember the Pas de Peyrol from a 2020 stage on which I fought with Primož [Roglič] to the line and it was one of the hardest finishes I’ve ever done.”
TOUR DE FRANCE 2024 | STAGE 10 | ORLÉANS > SAINT-AMAND-MONTROND | DAILY STATS
71,9: A SPRINTING MASTERCLASS
After a frustrating first week for Alpecin-Deceuninck, the world champion took matters in his own hands to launch Jasper Philipsen to victory in Saint-Amand-Montrond. With his unique explosive skills, Mathieu van der Poel accelerated from 46.7km/h to 67.5km/h and Philipsen sealed the deal with a top speed of 71.9km/h inside the last 50 metres.
7: PHILIPSEN IS BACK ON TOP
Almost a year after his last Tour win to date (12 July 2023, in Moulins), Jasper Philipsen clinched a 7th victory in the race and join Chris Froome as the 4th active rider with the highest number of stage wins. They trail Mark Cavendish (35), Tadej Pogačar (12) and Wout van Aert (9). Since his last victory, Jasper Philipsen had finished 5 times inside the top-5, with no victories: 3 places of 2nd and 2 places of 4th.
4: SPRINTS ARE UP FOR GRABS
Jasper Philipsen is the fourth different sprinter with a stage win in this Tour after Biniam Girmay (2), Mark Cavendish and Dylan Groenewegen. Only three sprinters won last year as Mads Pedersen and Jordi Meeus found an opening while Philipsen claimed 4 wins.
The last Tour with four different successful sprinters was the 2020 edition, with Alexander Kristoff, Caleb Ewan, Wout van Aert and Sam Bennett.
40: POGAČAR EXTENDS SLOVENIA’S RULE
With a 29th Maillot Jaune, Tadej Pogačar matches Fabian Cancellara’s record and brings Slovenia’s tally up to 40 jerseys. The country waited until stage 9 of the Tour 2020 to lead the overall standings for the first time ever, with Primož Roglič rising to power in Laruns. Since then, Roglič and his countryman Pogačar collected 47% (40/86) of the Maillot Jaune:
- 40 for Slovenia
- 27 for Denmark
- 6 for the Netherlands
- 5 for Belgium
- 4 for Great Britain
- 2 for France
- 1 for Australia and Ecuador
1-10: ABRAHAMSEN’S VERY OWN POLKA DOTS
A leader of the KOM standings since he went on the move on day 1, Jonas Abrahamsen has taken the polka-dot jersey all the way to the second week, a feat only achieved once in the history of the Tour de France, in 1984. That year, Ludo Peeters led the KOM standings from stage 1 until stage 10 and lost the polka-dot jersey to Jean-René Bernaudeau in stage 11. So far, Jonas Abrahamsen has spent 30% of his race time in breakaways, gone first atop 15 categorised ascents (out of 31) and collected a total of 33 KOM points (out of 81). The standings can change on Wednesday with 25 points up for grabs.
4: GIRMAY MEANS CONSISTENCY
Already the only rider with multiple wins in this Tour, Biniam Girmay didn’t make it to 3 victories on day 10, but he’s the first to claim a 4th top-3 result: winner in Turin and Colombey-les-Deux-Églises, 2nd in Dijon and Saint-Amand-Montrond. Jasper Philipsen follows with 3 results in the top-3. Girmay’s consistency will be rewarded with a 6th day in green as the leader of the points standings.
3: ACKERMANN GETS IN THE MIX
Already a stage winner in La Vuelta and the Giro, Pascal Ackermann claimed his first top-3 result in the Tour as he sprinted to the 3rd position in Saint-Amand-Montrond. The German sprinter is on the shortlist to become the 110th winner in all three Grand Tours after Remco Evenepoel made it in stage 7.
106: PHILIPSEN’S LUCKY NUMBER
Jasper Philipsen takes another victory with the bib number 106 pinned on his back, the same he had last year. Before him, we need to go back to 2002 to find a stage winner with the same bib (Karsten Kroon in Plouay).
