Philipsen finally wins and aims for more: “We are growing in this Tour”

Jasper Philipsen finally made it in the tenth stage of the Tour de France. After two second places and a disqualification (after another second place), last year’s sprint king convincingly won the stage. He was helped by an excellent lead-out from his teammate Mathieu van der Poel.

“It’s a relief,” Philipsen began in the flash interview. “Last week wasn’t great for us,” he referred to the outcome of the previous three sprints. “We also had some bad luck. I’m very happy that we could show the strength of our sprint train. We finally did what we came here for. It was a perfect team performance,” the stage winner praised his teammates.

“We are all growing in this Tour,” Philipsen continued. “Maybe we didn’t start in our best shape, but we all feel healthy and good. I am very happy to start the second week with a stage win, and there are still some nice stages to come,” he said, looking ahead to Thursday and Friday’s stages.

Philipsen eventually wins, but doesn’t get much closer to Girmay

The long-awaited victory was mentally tough for Philipsen. “It was a tough week. There had already been three sprints and we hadn’t won a single one. Today we could finally do what we were here for. I am very grateful to the team for continuing to believe in me. They deserved this victory.” Philipsen barely lost ground in the points classification to Biniam Girmay, who finished second behind the Belgian. “He’s been riding a very strong Tour so far,” said Philipsen. “He has a big lead. So we’re mainly focused on winning another stage and seeing how far we can get.” The green jersey is not a priority for the sprinter at the moment.