Presented by NTT DATA
8/10: PHILIPSEN IS ALPECIN-DECEUNINCK’S LEADER
Alpecin-Deceuninck lost two precious helpers yesterday as Soren Kragh Andersen and Jonas Rickaert finished outside of the time limit, they played different cards today, sending their world champions Mathieu van der Poel (Elite) and Axel Laurance (U23) up the road… But it came down to Jasper Philipsen to deliver their 10th stage win in the Tour de France, with no support in the final kilometre. The Belgian sprinter has now claimed 8 stage wins in the Tour (2 in 2022, 4 in 2023 and 2 in 2024). Their other victories were brought by Mathieu van der Poel and Tim Merlier in 2021.
48.821: THE 8TH FASTEST STAGE IN TOUR HISTORY
A huge battle for the break, echelons through the wind and a speedy finale - the pace never dropped today, so much that it becomes the 8th fastest stage ever in Tour history with an average of 48.821km/h! The early attackers were essential to drive the race at such a high speed, as they averaged 50.2km/h over 116 kilometres ahead of the bunch. The 6th and 7th fastest stages were also headed to Pau: 48.932km/h when Patrice Halgand won there in 2002 and 48.927 for Adrie van der Poel in 1988.
1-2: A BELGIAN HABIT
For the 4th year in a row, Belgian riders come 1st and 2nd in a stage of the Tour de France, with Jasper Philipsen getting the better of Wout van Aert in Pau. The pairing also took the spotlight in 2022, with Van Aert winning ahead of Philipsen in Calais, and the two stars finishing the other way around in Carcassonne. And the Tour had started with Yves Lampaert’s victory ahead of Van Aert in the Copenhagen ITT. Last year, it was Jordi Meeus who won ahead of Philipsen in Paris. In 2021, Tim Merlier (in Pontivy) and Van Aert (Paris) won ahead of Philipsen. The first Belgian 1-2 this century was achieved at home, in 2007, when Gert Steegmans outsprinted his leader Tom Boonen in Gent.
7: VAN AERT STILL CHASES VICTORY
Only beaten by Jasper Philipsen in Pau, Wout van Aert finished fo the 25th time in the top-3 of a Tour de France stage (1 less than Pogacar, while Cavendish has 44): 9 wins, 10 places of 2nd and 6 places of 3rd. From Colmar 2019 (2nd behind Sagan) all the way to Rocamadour 2022 (victory in the ITT), he had won 9 stages out of 18 top-3 results. But he’s winless in the last 7 occasions: 4 places of 2nd and 3 places of 3rd.
2: ROGLIC AND AYUSO DROP
The Tour de France peloton lost two members of the GC Top 10 on Friday, with the withdrawal of Primoz Roglic (6th) and the abandonment of Juan Ayuso (9th). This has not happened since the 9th stage of the 2017 Tour de France between Nantua and Chambéry, when Geraint Thomas (2nd) and Richie Porte (5th) both left the Tour injured after crashing. 9: POGACAR PUNCHES WITH THE SPRINTERS After a hard fought stage saw Tadej Pogacar get in the mix in the last kilometres, finishing 9th in between established fast men such as Bryan Coquard and Soren Waerenskjold. The Slovenian star had already finished three times in the top 10 of Tour flat stages: - 5th of Castelnau-Magnoac - Cahors, in 2022, when Christophe Laporte made the most of the final lumps - 7th of Lille - Arenberg Porte du Hainaut, in 2022, when he attacked on the cobbles - 10th of Libourne - Limoges, in 2023, when a demanding finale favoured Mads Pedersen.
3: CORT SHOWS HIS STRIPES
As he made the break for the first time in the Tour 2024, Magnus Cort took his 3rd combativity award after the stages leading to Sonderborg and Arenberg in 2022. His teammate Jonas Abrahamsen was distinguished twice this year. Among the riders in this year’s peloton, Wout van Aert is the only rider with more combativity awards than Cort, with 5.
