JASPER PHILIPSEN ended his frustration at this year’s Tour de France today with victory from a reduced sprint on stage 17 as Tadej Pogacar stayed safe in the yellow jersey.

Philipsen repeatedly fell short in bunch sprints over the first two weeks of this Tour, but made it look easy in Voiron after a 35-strong breakaway arrived first into town.

With team-mate Mathieu van der Poel providing the lead-out, Philipsen finished several bike lengths ahead of Mauro Schmid and Olav Kooij to take his 11th career Tour stage win, having won one in each edition since 2022.

“Definitely [it’s special] after such a roller coaster of emotions in this Tour de France,” Philipsen said.

“I had to wait until stage 17. I was prepared very, very well, I was in the shape of my life and the first 12 days were just horrible. I couldn’t find myself, I couldn’t find the feeling I was hoping for.

“After 17 stages to take the victory is really one for the team that kept on believing in me. I just want to thank everybody.

“I was like an angry bird at the table. I was disappointed in myself, I was angry, I couldn’t take a stage win, I didn’t find my feeling and the team had to deal with that. Not only the riders but the staff as well. This one is for them, to keep on believing and keep fighting until stage 17.”

Philipsen’s win saw him move to within seven points of Mads Pedersen in the points classification, putting the Dane under serious pressure in a competition he had previously looked in charge of.

The main general classification hopefuls had allowed the breakaway to get free midway through the 175km stage from Chambery, with overall leader Pogacar and closest challenger Remco Evenepoel crossing the line eight minutes 46 seconds later.

There was no change at the top of the general classification, where Pogacar leads by four minutes 32 seconds from Evenepoel.

Today’s stage 18 is set to favour the climbers, with two serious ascents coming early in the day before the final climb to Orcieres. The closing ascent is more of a relentless test than a brutal gradient, meaning the stage winner is likely to be a rider with strong climbing legs and sharp tactical instincts.