'It wasn't enough' - Philipsen running out of road to keep Tour streak alive

The Alpecin-Deceuninck rider entered this race seeking to make history by becoming the first Belgian to win a stage at five consecutive Tours de France. So far, however, he has been overshadowed by his compatriot Tim Merlier (Soudal Quick-Step), who notched up his hat-trick on Thursday.

Philipsen was able to lean on a strong lead-out from Alpecin-Deceuninck in the finale of stage 12, with Mathieu van der Poel serving as his last man, but he couldn’t match the speed of Merlier or Olav Kooij (Decathlon CMA CGM) in the final 100m.

“If the competition is stronger, you have to make peace with that,” Philipsen told Sporza. “We did what we could. Neither I nor the team are to blame. We rode the race and the sprint we had to ride, but it wasn’t enough.

“Of course we like to win, but there’s nothing we can do about it. I think I rode a really good sprint, truly at my level. Hats off to Tim, he is the deserved winner.”

Philipsen struggled to make an impact in the sprints in the opening week of the Tour, but he showed signs of progress at Nevers on Wednesday when he placed third, and he received a further boost to his morale when his team successfully appealed the commissaires’ initial decision to relegate him to 119th for his movement in the sprint. 

That overturned disqualification kept him notionally in the fight for the green jersey, but Philipsen knows that he needs to start winning stages if he is to have any hope of overhauling Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek). He currently lies third in the points classification, 46 points behind Pedersen.

Opportunities for the sprinters, however, will be at a premium for the remainder of the Tour. Stage 17 to Voiron looks like a certain bunch finish, while the fast men will hope the reconfigured Montmartre circuit will give them a fighting chance on the final day in Paris.

“We’ll keep fighting until Paris even if there might not be a victory left in it for us,” said Philipsen, who won two stages in 2022, four in 2023 and a hat-trick in 2024. He wore yellow in 2025 after winning the opening stage in Calais but he crashed out two days later.

“I already have 10 stage wins in the Tour and I am very happy with my palmarès. We have worked super hard and maybe that victory will still come, or maybe not. We will see what the Tour brings.”