Tour de France: Jasper Philipsen first yellow jersey, Evenepoel already trapped

This is the 27-year-old Belgian's tenth Tour victory. The fast rider from Alpecin was perfectly led by his teammates Mathieu van der Poel and Kaden Groves and won comfortably ahead of Ethiopian Biniam Girmay, in a peloton reduced to just forty riders, including the big favorite Tadej Pogacar and his rival Jonas Vingegaard.

Remco Evenepoel and Primoz Roglic were caught out by a move by Vingegaard's Visma team 17 kilometers from the finish. Both podium hopefuls lost 39 seconds, which was not at all expected for this day on the flat.

The very nervous stage caused a lot of damage with numerous breakages, mechanical incidents and falls which forced two time trial specialists, the Swiss Stefan Bisseger and especially the Italian Filippo Ganna, to abandon the race.

The Visma border also eliminated several sprinters including Tim Merlier and Jonathan Milan, who were among the main favorites for victory in front of a particularly enthusiastic crowd in the North.

This made things easier for Philipsen, who wore the yellow jersey for the first time in his career.

"Goosebumps"

"I already won the green jersey two years ago, and the idea of ​​being able to hang the yellow jersey in my living room is a really special feeling. I'll never forget this day," said the Alpecin rider, known for his hot streaks and aggression in the peloton.

"The team did a tremendous job all day, it was very nerve-wracking. In the end, we used our collective strength to push to the back. I had goosebumps during the last two kilometers, with all those fans, it gave me even more strength. The finish in Lille was incredible."

The stage was also marked by the incredible collision between Benjamin Thomas and Mattéo Vercher as they were leading with around 80 km to go and battling for the sprint to the summit of Mont Cassel for the mountains classification.

Thomas crashed his bike on the cobblestone road, taking his breakaway companion with him. Both riders still finished on the podium, with Thomas taking the polka-dot jersey for best climber, and Vercher receiving the Combativity Award.