TOUR DE FRANCE 2023 | STAGE 11 | CLERMONT-FERRAND > MOULINS
Jasper Philipsen took place in the modern history of the Tour de France as he became the second active rider with at least four stage wins in a single Tour after Mark Cavendish as he outclassed Dylan Groenewegen and Phil Bauhaus in Moulins where Jonas Vingegaard collected the 17th Maillot Jaune of his career.
AMADOR, LOUVEL AND OSS AT THE FRONT
The start proper of stage 11 was given to 169 riders at 13.26. Andrey Amador (EF Education-EasyPost) was first out of the peloton, although at a slow speed. Two riders joined him: Tony Gallopin (Lidl-Trek) and Matîs Louvel (Arkea-Samsic). Gallopin sat up but Daniel Oss (TotalEnergies) substituted him as he made the jump. This leading trio easily took some advantage to reach a maximum of 3’20’’ at km 25 where Alpecin-Deceuninck decided to take the responsibilities to pace the peloton. The teams of the top sprinters left with no win in the first four bunch gallops, namely Jayco-AlUla, Lotto-Dstny and Soudal-Quick, respectively for Dylan Groenewegen, Caleb Ewan and Fabio Jakobsen.
OSS UNTIL 13.5KM TO GO
The peloton delayed the regrouping as long as possible but crosswinds led GC teams to speed up in their move to position their captains close to the helm. With 54km to go, Louvel sat up, so did Amador 5km further. Oss remained alone. He forged on even when the rain made its first appearance on the roads of the Tour de France this year. The Italian veteran was reeled in 13.5km before the end. Soudal-Quick positioned Fabio Jakobsen at the front with 10km remaining.
IT’S PHILIPSEN AGAIN
Jumbo-Visma took over from the sprinters’ teams, firstly to keep Jonas Vingegaard out of trouble until 3km to go, secondly to pave the way for Wout van Aert. Dylan Groenewegen got the best lead out and launched the sprint but Philipsen was smart to follow his slipstream in the absence of Mathieu van der Poel in the finale this time around. The Belgian passed him to score his fourth stage win this year.
JASPER PHILIPSEN: “I’M HAPPY I COULD FIND GROENEWEGEN’S WHEEL”
“It’s an incredible Tour so far. I can’t realize how good it’s all going. I’m so proud. I’m happy with my shape. I had to get to final without problems. I managed it. I’m super happy. I can also win without Mathieu, but he makes it easier when he’s up there. Today I had to find some wheels and to find my space. I’m happy I could find Dylan’s wheel, then he opened space and I could overtake. There might be three more sprint opportunities, but there are also people going for breaks. Hopefully I’ll get some more wins, but above all taking this jersey to Paris is the main goal now.”
JONAS VINGEGAARD: “I NEEDED TO BE CAREFUL”
“This was a tricky stage. As a GC rider, you can lose the Tour de France on a stage like this one. You need to be careful. I have an amazing team, they kept me safe into the final. After the 3km banner, we just focused on surfing wheels and reaching the finish line safe. I’m thankful to my team. I feel good and ready for what’s to come. Tomorrow’s stage is tricky, so we will need to be careful. I’ll try to hold on to this yellow jersey, because my daughter Frida loves the lions I get in stage. I have to get her as many as I can!”
TADEJ POGACAR: “TMORROW’S STAGE MAY AFFECT THE GC”
“The race always becomes more nervous when we hit this kind of roads and there is rain, and some wind. Yet it was a good day, overall. My wrist is better. I feel the same sore every day, yet after the Tour de France I’ll need a couple of days of rest for it. It’s shit roads that do the most harm to my wrist, and luckily all roads in France are beautiful. Yesterday’s stage turned out to be one of the hardest in this Tour de France, and tomorrow’s is a similar one… so we will need to be careful, because it may affect the GC.”
DANIEL OSS: “IT’S A SHAME WE DIDN’T HAVE MORE PEOPLE WITH US”
“The plan was to cover the biggest groups. It was a sprint stage on paper. We found ourselves in a three-man group. We started rolling, not so hard because there was no big gap. I knew the route, and at one point in turned to the right and we got good tailwind. I was confident with more people we could give a fight. At a high speed, it’s hard to come back. It’s a shame I didn’t have more people with me. In this cycling anything can happen. Maybe big showers, mistake, two guys more come from behind – you never know. But I realized it was very difficult – 20k, 20”, almost impossible. Thinking of combativity, it’s a good award. Going to the podium, hearing people cheering… I enjoy being before a big crowd. It’s always so nice.”
