Tour de France
An in-depth look at how Jasper Philipsen won stage 17 of the Tour de France despite the green jersey’s best efforts.
With three big mountain days ahead and the final day in Paris, the big question heading into Stage 17 was sprint or breakaway. And unusually, the green jersey worn by Lidl-Trek’s Mads Pedersen from stage four swung aggressively in the latter’s favour.
Although Pedersen has looked in incredible shape throughout this year’s Tour, he did not perform well in the group sprints, finishing seventh twice, as well as ninth and 13th. “Damage control” – rather than actively trying to increase your points lead – became something of a meme between Pedersen and Tour de France interviewer Seb Piquet in their post-stage conversations.
It was no surprise then that Pedersen made huge leaps forward on each of the three climbs in the first 50km of stage 17, trying to find his way in a group of equally strong riders to repeat his breakaway win on stage four, or at least take maximum points in the first intermediate sprint of the day. Even if the effort ultimately fails, Pedersen’s sixth-place finish after a four-rider escape on Stage 9 suggests that simply making the race harder could be enough to increase his lead over Alpecin-Premier Tech’s Jasper Philipsen.
Pedersen, attacking all the early climbs like a regular Green Jersey wearer.
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Tour de France news and racing Mads Pedersen Jasper Philipsen