Tour de France: Philipsen in yellow after day one
London
Jasper Philipsen won a chaotic opening stage of the Tour de France to take the first yellow jersey of the race on Saturday.
Philipsen took his 10th career Tour stage but the first to put him into yellow as he beat Biniam Girmay in a much-reduced bunch sprint after crosswinds split the peloton to pieces.
Overall hopefuls Remco Evenepoel and Primoz Roglic were both caught out, conceding 39 seconds to the main favourites Tadej Pogacar and Jonas Vingegaard, with the Dane having done much to instigate the splits inside the last 20 kilometres of the 185km stage that started and finished in Lille.
Fewer than 40 riders made it into the front group but Philipsen's Alpecin-Deceuninck team had four of them and they made it count, putting together an ideal lead-out for Philipsen to comfortably beat Girmay and Soren Waerenshjold to the line.
'It's really amazing,' the Belgian said. 'My 10th victory is something I will never forget. The team performance was incredible. I think we were there all day. It was very nervous but we knew today could be our day and we have to be in the front and we were there in the split.
'The team did amazing and in the end we could just use our strength and finish it off.
'I have dreamt about (the yellow jersey). Already I had the green jersey from two years ago but to have the yellow jersey hanging somewhere in my house in the next years is going to be amazing.'
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Qatar Tribune
19 hours ago
- Qatar Tribune
Van der Poel edges out Pogacar to claim yellow jersey on Tour
Paris: Mathieu van der Poel pipped Tadej Pogacar to victory on stage two of the Tour de France on Sunday to take the yellow jersey from his team-mate Jasper Philipsen. Van der Poel edged an uphill sprint from overall favourites Pogacar and Jonas Vingegaard before collapsing to the ground in Boulogne-sur-Mer, the end point of the hard-fought 209-kilometre stage from Lauwin-Planque, the longest of this year's Tour. It was the Belgian's second career Tour stage win, and the second to bring him yellow after his win on the Mur-de-Bretagne in 2021, when he held it for six days. Van der Poel delivered on his status as favourite for a classics-style stage that came down to the final three climbs of a rolling day across northern France, with a series of attacks splitting the peloton into pieces and setting up a ferocious battle up the short, steep rise to the line. (PA Media/DPA)
Qatar Tribune
19 hours ago
- Qatar Tribune
Chelsea's Cucurella relishing Thiago Silva reunion at CWC
PA Media/dpa Philadelphia Chelsea's Marc Cucurella is looking forward to doing battle with former team-mate Thiago Silva for a place in the Club World Cup final. Evergreen defender Thiago, who left Chelsea last summer, is still producing impressive performances at the age of 40 for current club Fluminense. The two clubs meet in the semi-finals of this summer's global tournament in New York on Tuesday. Fellow defender Cucurella said: 'We've watched some of their games. They have very good players, they are very determined and they have Thiago Silva. 'He's a legend of football, a top player. He's only played for big clubs and texted me before the (quarter-final) game saying, 'Let's go, hopefully we can see you in a couple of days'. I texted him saying, 'Let's go!' 'We have the opportunity to play against him again and hopefully we can do good things and win this game and play in the final which is what we want to do.' Thiago is one of the great Brazilian defenders of his era and enjoyed an accomplished four-year spell with Chelsea in what was thought to be the twilight of his career after being released by Paris St Germain in 2020. His successes included Champions League glory in 2021 - a victory which earned Chelsea their place in the Club World Cup - and he remains a popular figure at Stamford Bridge.
Qatar Tribune
19 hours ago
- Qatar Tribune
Alcaraz sets up Norrie quarter-final
PA Media/DPA London Carlos Alcaraz remains on course for a third consecutive Wimbledon crown after surviving a scare to set up a quarter-final clash with Britain's Cameron Norrie. The world number two's title defence was creaking when, having overturned a 4-1 deficit, he dropped the opening set against Russian 14th seed Andrey Rublev on a tie-break. But a significant Centre Court upset was ultimately averted as Alcaraz extended his winning streak to 22 matches by coming through a tricky round-four contest 6-7 (5-7), 6-3, 6-4, 6-4 on Sunday. Having beaten Novak Djokovic in the last two finals, victory in two hours and 44 minutes marked the Spaniard's 18th successive win at the Championships, with his last loss coming against Jannik Sinner in 2022. The 22-year-old will hope to be back on Centre Court next Sunday bidding to become a six-time Grand Slam champion. Before then, the second seed must negotiate two more rounds, beginning with one-time semi-finalist Norrie - victor in a five-set epic against Chilean qualifier Nicolas Jarry - in the last eight on Tuesday. Earlier, Jordan Thompson's creaking body finally broke down on him as he had to retire from his match against fifth seed Taylor Fritz. The 31-year-old Australian has been basically held together with plasters and painkillers this fortnight due to a back injury, but somehow still reached the fourth round for the first time. However, he was forced to admit defeat in the second set against American Fritz, trailing 6-1, 3-0. Fritz will next meet Russian 17th seed Karen Khachanov, who beat Poland's Kamil Majchrzak 6-4, 6-2, 6-3.
