Jasper Philipsen has capped a fine team performance to win stage 17 of the Tour de France, with defending champion Tadej Poga\u010dar protecting his overall lead.<\/p>\n
Mathieu van der Poel led his Alpecin-Premier Tech teammate Philipsen to his first stage victory of this Tour overnight by controlling the pace and containing counterattacks through the last kilometres.<\/p>\n
Philipsen finished just ahead of Mauro Schmid and Olav Kooij.<\/p>\n
The Belgian rider described a “a roller-coaster of emotions” after what had been a disappointing Tour for him personally.<\/p>\n
“I prepared very, very well. I was in the shape of my life, I think, and the first stages, the first 12 days, were just horrible. I couldn’t find myself, couldn’t find the feeling I was hoping for,” said Philipsen, who thanked his team colleagues.<\/p>\n
“I was like an angry bird at the table. I was just disappointed in myself, angry that I couldn’t take [a] stage win, that I didn’t find my feeling. And the team, they had to deal with it, not only the riders, the staff. This one is for them to keep on believing.”<\/p>\n
Poga\u010dar, who is chasing a third straight Tour title and fifth overall, maintained his lead of just over four and a half minutes over Remco Evenepoel, the winner of the previous two stages.<\/p>\n
But it was a bad day for Poga\u010dar’s UAE Emirates XRG teammate Adam Yates, who struggled and only made it back within the time limit. The British rider slumped over his handlebars, clearly exhausted.<\/p>\n
The race ends on Sunday in Paris.<\/p>\n
The relatively flat 174.7km route from Chambery to Voiron was the last favourable stage for sprinters before the Tour takes to the Alps, and it led to a day of attempted breakaways, with many riders vying to put themselves in contention.<\/p>\n
Van der Poel was among the leaders after C\u00f4te de Saint-Jean d’Arvey, the last significant climb, and they were joined by others before Yates’s problems began in the peloton.<\/p>\n
Mads Pedersen was the next to attack the leaders with 65km remaining, and the green jersey-holder invigorated the group when he joined them.<\/p>\n
More sprinters broke away, swelling the group to 30 riders, before Pedersen, Ben Healy, Michal Kwiatkowski, Felix Engelhardt, Ed Planckaert and Jasper Stuyven struck out 57km from the finish.<\/p>\n
Stuyven attacked on his own 26km from the line, leaving his five former co-leaders to chase or wait for the main bunch. They were caught. The only question was whether the 34-year-old Stuyven had the stamina to claim his first Tour stage win.<\/p>\n
The Belgian rider was caught with less than 4km remaining, and Van der Poel did the rest for Philipsen.<\/p>\n