Tour de France 2024

Philipsen wins last flat stage ++ Girmay crashes

Jasper Philipsen

(Bild: Associated Press)

Belgium's sprint star Jasper Philipsen won the final flat stage of this year's Tour de France on Tuesday!

The 26-year-old from Team Alpecin won the 16th stage from Gruissan to Nimes (188.6 kilometers) in the south of France in a commanding bunch sprint. Philipsen reduced his deficit in the battle for the green jersey of the top sprinter to the other three-time winner of the day, Biniam Girmay from Eritrea, who crashed around 1.5 kilometers before the finish.

Philipsen now only 82 points behind Girmay 
Philipsen had already won the 10th and 13th stages of the 111th edition of the Tour last week. He now has a total of nine stage wins in the "Grand Loop". The Belgian had already taken home the green jersey last year. With the sprint in Nimes, which was perfectly prepared by his team, he made up 50 points on Girmay in the special classification and is now only 82 points behind the first African Tour stage winner.

"Every stage win is difficult to win!"
Girmay crashed in a traffic circle, but did not sustain any serious injuries. According to his Intermarche team, the 24-year-old suffered bruises to his shoulder, elbow and knee. He was guided to the finish line by his team-mates and should be able to compete again on Wednesday. "I hope he's okay. He didn't deserve to lose like that," said Philipsen, who triumphed ahead of the German Phil Bauhaus and the Norwegian Alexander Kristoff. "Every stage win is difficult to take, so we can be proud." Sprint oldie Mark Cavendish, who had already won in Nimes in 2008, was unable to intervene in the decision.

Gachignard's solo escape was doomed to failure
Chris Harper (Jayco) and Maxim van Gils (Lotto) were the next two riders to abandon before the start due to coronavirus infections. Temperatures of over 30 degrees and a sometimes annoying headwind prevented the breakaway riders from trying their luck. A solo escape by Frenchman Thomas Gachignard 92 kilometers before the finish was doomed to failure. There will be no further chance of a bunch sprint due to the Olympic Games. Instead of continuing north towards Paris, the peloton will ride through the Alps to Nice in the coming days. The most important race in the world will end there on Sunday with an individual time trial.

As expected, there were no changes in the overall standings after the 100th Tour stage for leader Tadej Pogacar. The Slovenian continues to lead by 3:09 minutes ahead of defending champion Jonas Vingegaard, who will put on the yellow jersey for the 35th time on Wednesday. Felix Gall from East Tyrol is still eleventh. The demanding 17th stage leads over 177.8 kilometers from Saint-Paul-Trois-Chateaux into the Alps and ends after a four-kilometer climb in the winter sports resort of Superdevoluy.

The result of the 16th stage:
1st Jasper Philipsen (BEL) Alpecin 4:11:27 hrs.
2nd Phil Bauhaus (GER) Bahrain
3rd Alexander Kristoff (NOR) Uno-X
Further:
82nd Marco Haller (AUT) Red Bull
90th Felix Gall (AUT) Decathlon
135th Gregor Mühlberger (AUT) Movistar - all same time

The standings in the overall standings:
1st Tadej Pogacar (SLO) UAE 66:07:51 hrs.
2nd Jonas Vingegaard (DEN) Visma +3:09 min.
3rd Remco Evenepoel (BEL) Soudal +5:19
Further:
11th Felix Gall (AUT) Decathlon +17:01
66th Gregor Mühlberger (AUT) Movistar +2:44:56 hrs.
97th Marco Haller (AUT) Red Bull +3:11:33