Jasper Philipsen is the first yellow jersey of the 112nd edition of the Tour de France. The campinois of the Alpecin-Deceuninck team won the first stage in the streets of Lille after 184.9 kilometers and an also given departure from the capital of French Flanders.
Philipsen, who won his 10th stage victory in the Tour and his 53rd career success at 27 years old, has ahead of Eritrean Biniam Germay (Intermarché-Wanty) and the Norwegian Sören Waerennskjold (Uno-X Mobility).
The three men occupy the same places as a general with Philipsen having 4 seconds ahead of German and 6 on Waerenskjold taking into account the bonuses. He offers Belgium his first yellow jersey from Wout Van Aert in 2022.
“I’m certainly not going to wear it for a very long time but I will wear it with pride. It’s nice to be able to experience this with the team, “said the winner of the stage to our microphone.
The wind caused edges at the end of the stage, the main victim of which was Remco Evenepoel (Sudal Quick-Step) which lost 39 seconds on the two main favorites for the final victory The Slovenian Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates) and Jonas Vingegaard.
The Danish and his teammates from the Visma-Lease A Bike training were not the last to provoke the decision 17 km from the finish which reduced the leading group to 36 elements. Several falls intervened. The main victims were the Italian Filippo Ganna (ineos grenadiers) and the Swiss Stefan Bissegger (Decathlon Ag2r La Mondiale) forced to abandon.
After the intermediate sprint of Motte-au-Bois (km 87.5), Mattéo Vercher left for the attack soon joined by Benjamin Thomas. The two men then dropped on the cobblestones just after the GP Mountain Sprint at Mont Cassel (km 106). The peloton then sawed himself in a nervous end of the stage due to wind conditions, three-quarters of back, trapping several of the sprinters like Tim Merlier or Jonathan Milan in addition to Remco Evenepoel.
