Jasper Philipsen took the title of most successful sprinter of the 109th Tour de France as he became the only one of them to score for the second time. The Belgian outclassed former Champs-Élysées winners Dylan Groenewegen and Alexander Kristoff to emulate his childhood hero Tom Boonen who also won his second Tour de France stage in Paris at the age of 24 in 2004. Wout van Aert didn’t contest the last sprint to celebrate Jonas Vingegaard’s first overall victory.
1 LAST KOM POINT FOR SIMON GESCHKE
135 riders started stage 21 at 16.46 at Paris La Défense Arena. 3 non-starters: Gorka Izagirre (Movistar), Michael Woods and Guillaume Boivin (Israel-Premier Tech). Wout van Aert (Jumbo-Visma), the super combative of the 109th Tour de France, symbolically attacked from the gun one last time but it was for a laugh along with Jonas Vingegaard and Tadej Pogacar. As per tradition, the peloton rode slowly for the first fifty kilometres or so. Polka dot jersey wearer Simon Geschke was allowed by the rest of the riders to symbolically take the last KOM point up for grab at côte du Pavé des Gardes. Also as per tradition, Jumbo-Visma, the team of the Maillot Jaune, entered Paris in the lead of the peloton.
BREAKAWAY GROUPS ON THE CHAMPS-ELYSEES
Stefan Bissegger (EF Education-EasyPost) and Stan De Wulf (AG2R-Citroën) attacked with 45km to go. They were joined in several waves by Jan Tratnik (Bahrain Victorious), Mathieu Burgaudeau (TotalEnergies), Dani Martinez (Ineos Grenadier), Matteo Jorgenson (Movistar), Max Schachmann (Bora-Hansgrohe) and Mikkel Honoré (Quick Step). It was all together again with 33km to go. The next leading group involved Schachmann again. The German was accompanied by Jonas Rutsch and Owain Doull (EF Education-EasyPost), Antoine Duchesne and Olivier Le Gac (Groupama-FDJ). The quintet got a 25’’ lead with 25km to go as their maximum advantage. It went down to 15’’ with 15km remaining. Schachmann and Rutsch were the last to surrender and it was all together again with 6.8km left.
ONE LAST ATTACK BY TADEJ POGACAR
White jersey holder Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates) attacked but Filippo Ganna reacted for Ineos Grenadier and the peloton was strung out in the run in to the last 3-km. Alpecin-Deceuninck seized the reins of the peloton. BikeExchange-Jayco took over at the red flame. Dylan Groenewegen launched from far out and Jasper Philipsen had the situation under control. He sped up on the right hand side to take his second stage win at the age of 24, eighteen years after Tom Boonen, the last Belgian green jersey winner before Wout van Aert, did so on the Champs-Elysées. Both hail from Mol and Philipsen has often been touted as the next Boonen. Last year’s Champs-Elysées winner Wout van Aert remained quietly at the back of the pack, along with Jonas Vingegaard who took home his first Tour de France trophy.
