Philipsen bags fourth stage win of Tour de France

MOULINS, FRANCE: Belgian Jasper Philipsen sprinted to his fourth stage win on this year’s Tour de France with a powerful last burst on stage 11 from Clermont-Ferrand to Moulins.

The Alpecin sprinter edged Dutch rider Dylan Groenewegen to the line on Wednesday with Phil Bauhaus in third. There was no change in the overall standings between race favorites Jonas Vingegaard and Tadej Pogacar.

Philipsen has dominated the bunch sprints on this Tour although two of his three previous triumphs were garnered with some wobbly maneuvers that had to be validated by the race commissaire.

In the final sprint during his first win at Bayonne he appeared to swerve in front of Wout Van Aert.

He then won out after a series of falls at the Nogaro motorbike circuit.

On the banks of the Garonne at Bordeaux for his third stage win he also appeared to cut off the path for Biniam Girmay, who waved his arms in anger before Philipsen was again cleared.

“Looking back I never believed I had done anything wrong,” Philipsen said Wednesday of the reviews.

“It’s been an incredible Tour so far.”

He was positive looking forward too.

“It looks like there might be three more stages that are possible to win, even if that will be difficult to control,” said Philipsen.

He was also starting to sound more confident of landing the overall green jersey once the race winds up in Paris on July 23.

“I think I’ve made a good gap in the standings and that gives me a bit of comfort going into the Alps.

“I’m super proud, I’m also really happy with my shape.”

Philipsen leads the sprint points race by 145 points, with Frenchman Bryan Coquard second on 178.

Race leader Vingegaard and second-placed Pogacar remain separated by just 17 seconds, with Australian