{"id":2038154,"date":"2026-07-10T20:41:37","date_gmt":"2026-07-10T17:41:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=2038154"},"modified":"2026-07-10T20:41:37","modified_gmt":"2026-07-10T17:41:37","slug":"a-hurled-helmet-at-the-tour-de-france-a-sprinter-searching-for-form","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=2038154","title":{"rendered":"A Hurled Helmet at the Tour de France, a Sprinter Searching for Form"},"content":{"rendered":"
Jasper Philipsen took a leaf out of Mark Cavendish\u2019s book on Friday, but not in terms of taking a Tour de France stage win.<\/p>\n
Back in 2010 the Briton finished 12th on stage 4 of the Tour, and subsequently hurled his helmet out of the team bus with a roar of frustration.<\/p>\n
Philipsen did the same thing Friday, chucking his headgear in anger over his fifth place into Bordeaux.<\/p>\n
The Belgian previously won into the city in 2023, coincidentally beating Cavendish to do so. This time around he appeared to be way off the pace.<\/p>\n
Things looked very promising inside the final kilometer with his Alpecin-PremierTech team setting him up very close to the front and Mathieu van der Poel then giving him a blistering leadout.<\/p>\n
The timing may have been slightly off, though, with Philipsen launching his sprint with about 240 meters to go.<\/p>\n
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But while that was almost certainly too far out, it wasn\u2019t a case that he faded just before the line. Instead he was almost immediately passed by S\u00f8ren W\u00e6renskjold (Uno-X Mobility), with Tim Merlier (Soudal Quick-Step) in turn whipping by the Norwegian and winning the stage.<\/p>\n
Philipsen faded and was also overtaken by two others, Biniam Girmay (NSN Cycling Team) and Max Kanter (XDS Astana Team).<\/p>\n
It was a curiously muted performance by the ten-time Tour stage winner, who won the points classification three years ago and has 63 career victories.<\/p>\n
\u2018There are frustrations\u2019<\/h2>\nJasper Philipsen is hoping to take at least one stage win, but hopefully more than that (Photo: David Pintens \/ Belga Mag via AFP)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
Philipsen is just 28 and so age is not an issue. Indeed Merlier is 33, five years older, but was clearly a step above him today.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s hard to take for the Alpecin leader, who came into the Tour with five wins to his credit this year, plus bucket loads of ambition.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think I can\u2019t be mad at myself. I just can\u2019t do anymore what I could, and that just wasn\u2019t enough today,\u201d he told journalists after the stage.<\/p>\n
He accepted that\u2019s why he treated his helmet as a frisbee.<\/p>\n
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\u201cOf course, the frustration after the race, of course trying to win,\u201d he said. \u201cYes, there are frustrations, but that\u2019s kind of part of the sport and we try to win. If I don\u2019t reach my level, well, of course, that\u2019s not fun.\u201d<\/p>\n
Philipsen desperately wants to get back to his best in the Tour. Of those ten stage wins, his best year was 2023 when he clocked up four stages, more than anyone else in the race.<\/p>\n
He led the green jersey competition from stage 4 all the way to the end of the race and ended up with over 100 points more than the next rider, Mads Pedersen.<\/p>\n
He was clearly, unquestionably, the sprinter of the moment.<\/p>\n
Since then his haul has dropped, with three stage wins in 2024 and just one last year. He was forced to leave the race 12 months ago due to a collarbone fracture, and getting back up to multiple stage wins\u2014and ideally winning another green jersey\u2014are important goals for this July.<\/p>\n
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\u201cWhat I find the most frustrating of course is the team did everything perfectly. I knew the position well enough to start my sprint and I just couldn\u2019t start it,\u201d he said. \u201cThere simply wasn\u2019t enough speed\u2026.I just didn\u2019t really feel the explosiveness in the last 250 meters.\u201d<\/p>\n
Time yet to come good, but the pressure is on<\/h2>\nFifth on stage seven wasn\u2019t what Philipsen was aiming for, but the speed wasn\u2019t there (Photo: Gruber Images)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
The Tour continues Friday with another sprint opportunity; the race to Bergerac appears perfectly suited to another bunch finish.<\/p>\n
Stage 11 to Nevers also looks promising, as do stages 12, stage 17 and, of course, the final stage to Paris. There may be another one or two opportunities along the way, depending on whether or not the sprinters handle tougher terrain.<\/p>\n
Alpecin-Premier Tech team manager Philip Roodhooft has given a clear show of support to his rider, fully believing he can come good.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt would be very bad if we said after two sprints that the confidence is gone,\u201d he said after the stage, according to HLN.be.<\/p>\n
\u201cJasper has already won ten stages in the Tour in his career. He won at least one stage in each of the past four Tours. Why would we suddenly hesitate?\u201d<\/p>\n
Philipsen, too, isn\u2019t throwing in the towel.<\/p>\n
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\u201cThe Tour is still long. Of course I try to take every chance as best as possible and, of course, I also hope for a better feeling. But I just have to accept what the situation is at the moment.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd yes, there are obviously still a number of chances. Hopefully we can take advantage of those with better legs.\u201d<\/p>\n
He and his team will be hoping it will be champagne corks flying next time rather than his helmet.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
[analyse_image type=”featured” src=”https:\/\/velo-cdn.outsideonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/GettyImages-2284845447.jpg”] Shane Stokes Published July 10, 2026 02:41PM Jasper Philipsen took a leaf out of Mark Cavendish\u2019s book on Friday, but not in terms of taking a Tour de France stage win. Back in 2010 the Briton finished 12th on stage 4 of the Tour, and subsequently hurled his helmet out of the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[226,71],"class_list":["post-2038154","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics","tag-crawlmanager","tag-velo-outsideonline-com"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2038154","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2038154"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2038154\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2038154"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2038154"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2038154"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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![\"Fifth](\"https:\/\/velo-cdn.outsideonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Z8C_3278.jpg?width=3840&auto=webp&quality=75&fit=cover\")