Hey man, we hadn’t expected to get so excited for the end of a flat stage! While the 18th stage of the Tour de France – the one after the collapse of Tadej Pogacar in the Col de la Loze – promised to be boring to death, with a scenario sewn with white thread, a fight between the sprinters and a victory for Philipsen at the finish, it is quite the opposite that happened.
Indeed, for once in this Tour 2023 padlocked everywhere, a breakaway went to the end. Pop the warm sparkling wine and the duck terrine, it’s a day to mark with a red cross in the calendar! It is true that since the departure from Bilbao, at the beginning of July, given the difficulty of the route and the rhythm of Afghan hounds set by the peloton every day, it is not good to be adventurous. We can no longer count the vain efforts of the brave who have constantly dared to go on the attack, tirelessly hoping one day to benefit from the leniency of a peloton in pot of glue mode.
Alpahilippe sets the stage for Asgreen
Among these, Thibaut Pinot, whom we have seen furious several times against a peloton oppressing the freedom of breakaways. That’s why, on Thursday, he couldn’t be happier with the victory of Kasper Asgreen, who had escaped since the start of the day with Victor Campenaerts and Jonas Abrahamsen. “For many runners, it was a bit like the last opportunity to shine, congratulations to them because they really have a nice number”, greeted the idol of the French.
Same story, more marked, on the side of Julian Alaphilippe, Asgreen’s teammate at Soudal-Quickstep. “I’m just super happy for Asgreen, for us. It’s been a very difficult Tour for us since the start. We tried every day and today was a great opportunity for Kasper to be up front. At the end, I felt it was possible, ”explained the one who gave of himself by playing spoilsport in the middle of the sprinter teams, to allow Asgreen and the breakaway to go to the end.
But no, no, the fighters are not dead!
If he was obviously very proud of this victory, his first on a Grand Tour and the first for his team on the Grande Boucle 2023, the Danish rider would not have spat on a little more support in the breakaway. “The situation was not ideal, I would have preferred to leave with 6, 7 or 8 other runners, he confided to France TV after his victory. But at the same time it’s the last week of the Tour, the teams are tired. Lucid about his situation, Asgreen willingly concedes that his victory is the product of “a set of combined factors” – the fatigue of the sprinters’ teammates, the abandonment of certain sprinters – which in no way detracts from his achievement of the day.
Because, throughout the day, the peloton will never have left more than a 1’30 gap with the breakaway. But the late awakening of the sprinter teams combined with a bad understanding at the head of the peloton will have got the better of the ambitions of Philipsen et Cie. A Jasper Philippsen who, by the way, under his air of a nice boy, seems to take a little too much confidence after his four victories on the Tour. Witness this rather ugly gesture on Pascal Eenkhoorn, literally chased and blocked by the sprinter from Alpecin-Fenix, who had obviously decided that no one would join the breakaway. Bad luck, Enkhoorn ended up giving him the slip to go and help the three in front to go to the end. A nice snub.