Jasper Philipsen wins 17th stage of Tour de France in sprint finish

VOIRAN – Belgian cyclist Jasper Philipsen claimed his first stage victory of the 2026 Tour de France, winning the 17th stage in a sprint finish. The Alpecin rider secured his eleventh career Tour de France win, but his first of this edition, crossing the line ahead of Switzerland's Mauro Schmid and the Netherlands' Olav Kooij.

Philipsen was expertly guided in the final kilometers by his teammate Mathieu van der Poel. The stage was largely a transitional one for the general classification contenders. The yellow jersey wearer, Tadej Pogacar, and other top riders finished several minutes behind the leading group, in a separate peloton.

Pogacar, the Slovenian leader, maintains a substantial lead of 4 minutes and 32 seconds over second-placed Remco Evenepoel of Belgium. This buffer provides a strong position for Pogacar as the Tour heads into three challenging mountain stages in the Alps.

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We prepare for hard days, but I didn't expect it to be so hard. I knew they would go hard in the first part, when there were the climbs, but then it calmed down. Despite everything, it was a hard day.

The Alpecin team celebrated its second stage win of this 113th edition of the Tour, following Van der Poel's earlier victory. Belgium has now accumulated six stage wins in total, with contributions from Tim Merlier and Evenepoel. For Philipsen, this victory represents a significant relief after several near misses earlier in the race. He expressed his joy, remaining on the ground at the finish line to savor the moment.

With this win, Philipsen also closes the gap in the green jersey competition for the points classification, now trailing Denmark's Mads Pedersen by just seven points. The stage itself was dynamic, marked by numerous attacks that fragmented the peloton, briefly challenging riders like Mexico's Isaac del Toro, who is third overall. Pogacar acknowledged the unexpected difficulty of the transitional stage, despite his strong overall position.

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I am not one hundred percent convinced about going for the win tomorrow.