Double reward for Philipsen in Visma’s tactical masterclass
Crashes, withdrawals, echelons, and the main favourites for the podium losing time. We expected a bloodbath and we got it. Philipsen, first yellow jersey of Le Tour.
Crashes, DNFs, crosswinds and time losses for several GC favourites. We knew there could be carnage – and it came, though not quite in the way we expected.
Jasper Philipsen was the big winner on the opening day of the Tour in Lille, taking the stage win – his 10th at the Tour de France – and, most notably, pulling on the maillot jaune.
But the stage was defined by wind, tension, crashes, the withdrawals of Pippo Ganna and Stefan Bissegger, and a well-timed move from Visma with just under 20km to go.
The Dutch team’s acceleration, driven by Benoot, Jorgenson and Affini, split the race wide open.
A group of around 40 riders went clear, leaving podium contenders such as Evenepoel, Roglič, Lipowitz, Almeida, Carlos Rodríguez and Felix Gall behind – they eventually crossed the line 39 seconds down on the group that included both Pogačar and Vingegaard. Riders like Simon Yates, Adam Yates, Michael Storer, Lenny Martínez and Eddy Dunbar saw their hopes of a strong GC result vanish.
Visma are a smart team, always looking to make the most of what the road gives them. They knew the section before the urban run-in to Lille would be critical and made their move after a hard day and a hectic start to the stage.
With a favourable cross-tailwind of around 25km/h, they hit the front and lined out the peloton.
After generating serious tension in the bunch, the peloton didn’t need a howling wind to split apart. A gap opened and there was no way back for Soudal and Red Bull – the teams with the biggest interest in protecting the chances of Roglič, Lipowitz, Evenepoel and Merlier, who, along with Jonathan Milan, also missed the front split.
Two things stood out to me. First, the smart decision to ‘sacrifice’ Simon Yates – potentially the team’s second card – in order to gain time on every direct rival except Pogačar… who, when the split happened, was only with Tim Wellens. The Belgian reacted quickly to support him, but no other UAE teammate was in position just before the race blew apart. It’s nothing new as I mentioned it in the race preview.
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The second thing: among the GC hopefuls who made it into the front group were names like Johannessen, O’Connor and Blackmore, along with Jorgenson and the two big favourites. But Enric Mas was there too.