'Just a stupid crash' – Alpecin attach no blame for Philipsen’s Tour de France abandon

It’s a cruel business, the Tour de France. After celebrating two wins in the first two days, Alpecin-Deceuninck’s race took on a different hue on stage 3 to Dunkerque, as green jersey Jasper Philipsen crashed out of the race in the intermediate sprint with 60km to go.

“I think maybe it’s a metaphor for life,” general manager Philip Roodhooft told reporters at the finish. “I mean, everything is unpredictable, so you have to enjoy the moment. Maybe 100 people have said ‘enjoy the moment’ yesterday and the day before, and now you see how fast things can turn.”

Philipsen received treatment on the roadside, but it was immediately apparent that his Tour was over. Official confirmation of his abandon arrived shortly afterwards, and he was taken to hospital to have an apparent shoulder injury assessed.

“We cannot say a lot. He just arrived at the hospital,” Roodhooft said. “It’s not very clear if the collarbone or the shoulder is broken or not. That’s what we fear. Apparently he has no concussion so far, but we still have to wait for the outcome.”

Philipsen’s turn of speed on the opening stage carried him to the first yellow jersey of the race, and his form and pedigree made him an obvious candidate to carry the green jersey to Paris. His race ended, however, during his pursuit of points in the intermediate sprint in Isbergues, when he was brought down by Bryan Coquard (Cofidis), who had himself been bumped by Laurenz Rex (Intermarché-Wanty).

Immediately after the crash, one of Philipsen’s teammates could be seen remonstrating with Coquard, but Roodhooft felt that there was no blame to be attached either to the Frenchman or to Rex. 

“Jasper is the victim of something where he’s totally not involved in, that’s clear,” Roodhooft said. “To be honest, the two others, they collide and they crash but I think it’s not about blaming – it’s just a stupid crash. These things can happen and the consequences for us as a team and, above all, for Jasper are very bad, but what can you say? I think bad things happen sometimes.”

Van der Poel retained the yellow jersey after stage 3, a boon to a squad that is still searching for a replacement for secondary sponsor Deceuninck at season’s end.

Kaden Groves, already a stage winner at the Giro d’Italia and Vuelta a España in his career, was brought to the Tour as Philipsen’s lead-out man, and he filled in as Alpecin’s sprinter on Monday.

Groves took seventh on the stage, which was won by Tim Merlier (Soudal-QuickStep), though Roodhooft was reluctant to discuss the team’s sprint strategy for the remainder of the Tour.

“Everybody knows why we said we should also take Kaden to the Tour, but I think at this moment it’s not really something to talk about,” Roodhooft said. “Jasper is still there in the hospital with his probably broken shoulder, so I think we should not talk now about how we continue. Of course, we know we have to continue, and we will continue, and Jasper will want us to continue. But at the moment, it’s just not right to talk about that.”