‘It’s a pity there’s a commotion about it’ - Jasper Philipsen plays down Tour de France sprint controversy
After several sprint incid꧙ents, Philipse🃏n and Van der Poel may risk relegation if there's another fraught sprint

168澳洲5最新开奖结果:Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Deceuninck) took a hat-trick win at stage 7 of the the Tour de France in Bordeaux, denying 168澳洲5最新开奖结果:Mark Cavendish a historic 35th Tour stage win, but the Belgian has had to respond to criticism of his racing ꦰline following a complaint from rival team bos🔜ses.
Speaking in an interview with on Friday evening, Philipsen said, "It's a pity that there is commotion about it" in response to protests lodged by Astana 🌄Qazaqstan team boss Alexander Vinokourov and Intermarché-Circus-Wanty boss Jean-François Bourlart.
Philipsenꩲ analysed the sprint on the show, pointing out that Cavendish’s line had simil🌼arly changed in the final metres of the race.
"The man in front [Mark Cavendish] always determines the line, so I jump to his wꦆheel,” Philipsen said. “Mark also starts in the centre and then swerves to the right.
"Then ♔it is logical that Girmay gets a bit stuck, but that's🎀 just how sprinting is. Things are always magnified in the Tour."
The tension around the sprint has no doubt beenౠ magnified by several sequential sprint stages with tumultuous finishes.
Stage 3 saw the UCI commissaires at the race re🍬view a꧅llegations that Philipsen moved from his line too much in the sprint, cutting off Wout Van Aert (Jumbo-Visma), before ultimately ruling that Philipsen was not at fault.
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Then, only 24 hours later on stage 4, Alpecin-Deceuninck teammate and key lead-out man 168澳洲5最新开奖结果:Mathieu van der Poel barged into 168澳洲5最新开奖结果:Biniam Girmay to make space for Philipsen’s successful sprint in Nogaro. On that occasion, Van der Poel was fined 500 CHF and re✨legated from 16th to 22nd, losing 13 points in the green jersey standings in the process.
No doubt adding to the pr🐭essure is Cavendish's highly publicised attempt to break Eddy Merckx’s Tour de France stage win record, which he wasꦑ painfully close to with his second-place finish yesterday.
Equally, though, speculation has circulated that the historic record attempt played to Philipsen’s favour – with Tour commissaires reluctant to have Cavendish&rsquo🧸;s record-breaking win take place through relegation. Following Van der Poe💎l’s relegation and the series of complaints, there are those at the race who regard Philipsen as carrying an effective yellow card and a risk of relegation should another incident occur.
Belgian national coach Sven Vanthourenhout, however, regarded the controversy as a considerable overreaction. "If this happens on day 1, we won't even talk about it,” he said to Sporza.
Phili🗹psen, similarly, seems undisturbed by the attention on his lead-out and sprint. "Too bad," he said of the general fuss.
With stage 8 likely to play to the race’s puncheurs, and the mountainous terrain of stage 9 and 10, it’s likely that stage 11 from Clermont-Ferrand to Moulins will be the next opportunity for a bunch sprint battle.ꦕ There we will see what effect the tensions have had on Alpecin-Deceuninck's sprint strategy.
Peter Stuart has been the editor of Cyclingnews sinceಞ March 2022, overseeing editorial outp𝓰ut across all of Cyclingnews' digital touchpoints.
Before joining Cyclingnews, Peter was the digital editor of Rouleur magazine. Starting life as a freelance feature ✅writer, with bylines in The Times and The Telegraph, he first entered cycling journalism in 2012, joining Cyclist magazine as staff writer. Peter has a background as an international rower, representing Great Britain at Under-23 level and at the Junior Rowing World Championships.