Tour 2025: Jasper Philipsen Sprints to Yellow Jersey in Lille After Echelon Drama, Time Losses for Evenepoel and Roglic

First attack succeeds immediately, Ganna involved in early crash
High nerves were predicted before the start. Partly because the yellow jersey was up for grabs at the finish, but also due to weather forecasts and a westerly wind causing stress. After several ceremonies, the Tour officially started, and the first breakaway attempt was immediately successful: Jonas Rutsch (Intermarché-Wanty), Mathis Le Berre (Arkéa-B&B Hotels), Bruno Armirail (Decathlon AG2R), Benjamin Thomas (Cofidis), and Mattéo Vercher (TotalEnergies) quickly built a gap of over two minutes.

The sprinters' teams Alpecin-Deceuninck and Lidl-Trek kept the advantage from growing beyond three minutes. The first hour remained calm, but nerves increased with 130 kilometers to go. All major teams positioned themselves at the front, anticipating possible echelons. Filippo Ganna was the first rider to crash, along with Sean Flynn, but after some quick repairs, the Italian was able to continue. Thibau Nys and Stefan Bissegger also went down.

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Echelons cause tension, Lipowitz briefly in trouble
All eyes were on the village of Bethune, where the wind conditions were ideal for echelons. Visma | Lease a Bike and UAE Emirates XRG were alert, as were Mathieu van der Poel and Remco Evenepoel. Misfortune struck Florian Lipowitz, who fell behind due to a bike change. It was a bad moment, as he dropped back to a group containing Nys and the dropped Lenny Martinez. The wind had already caused some damage but wasn’t strong enough to fully shatter the peloton. The early break was caught with 105 kilometers remaining.

Calm wind sections followed as the route changed direction, allowing Lipowitz, Nys, and Martinez to rejoin. This happened just before the first intermediate sprint of this Tour, where Jonathan Milan was fastest ahead of Bryan Coquard and Biniam Girmay. Shortly after, early breakaway riders Vercher and Thomas seized the chance to escape again, especially targeting King of the Mountains points on the Kasselberg.

Notable crash on Kasselberg, Ganna abandons
The sprint at the front was fiercely contested. Benjamin Thomas won the sprint with a strong jump ahead of Vercher. However, both crashed at the finish line, Thomas taking his breakaway companion down with him. Both were able to continue, and Thomas secured the King of the Mountains jersey after the finish. The peloton did not slow either; after the Kasselberg, the group splintered again. Nys and Martinez fell behind once more, as did Simon Yates among others. Yates had to chase hard but managed to get back between the cars.

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Filippo Ganna did not return; he was the first withdrawal of this Tour following his crash. Despite his absence, some nervousness remained but no serious attempts to split the peloton into echelons were made. The control was too strong, so the last hour focused on sprint preparation.

But then echelons happen!
Visma | Lease a Bike, UAE Emirates XRG, and Alpecin-Deceuninck took the lead at the front of the peloton, while other teams tried to keep their sprinters well-positioned. Was the echelon action over? No, because at 18 kilometers from the finish, with the wind coming diagonally from behind, Visma | Lease a Bike saw an opportunity. Jonas Vingegaard was among those pulling hard, causing the peloton to split into three groups. Finally!

Mathieu van der Poel, Jasper Philipsen, Kaden Groves, world champion Tadej Pogačar, teammate Tim Wellens, Biniam Girmay, Søren Waerenskjold, Stian Fredheim, Marijn van den Berg, Paul Penhoët, Matteo Trentin, Luka Mezgec, Davide Ballerini, Mike Teunissen, and Jasper Stuyven were well positioned in the front group of about thirty riders.

Among those dropped were Remco Evenepoel (who briefly hit the grass), Tim Merlier, Wout van Aert, Jonathan Milan, Primož Roglič, João Almeida, and Florian Lipowitz. Their echelon quickly lost 20 seconds on the front group, which kept up a strong pace. With 10 kilometers to go, the gap was already half a minute.

Excitement in the finale
There was no organization at the front in the final 10 kilometers. Alpecin-Deceuninck had numerical superiority and all the fast men on their side, while rivals like Merlier and Milan were off the back. Xandro Meurisse and Jonas Rickaert took on the responsibility of keeping a high tempo. Thanks to their efforts, the gap hovered around 35 seconds. Wellens also pulled hard on the front on behalf of Pogačar, as many contenders were behind.

Misfortune hit Marijn van den Berg, who crashed in the hectic finale, losing his chance for a stage win. He took Ben O'Connor down with him, but under the 5-kilometer rule, he was credited with the time of the front group. Up front, sprint preparations were underway. Uno-X Mobility and Alpecin-Deceuninck set up lead-out trains entering the final kilometer.

[caption id="attachment_1206274" align="alignnone" width="2000"] photo: Cor Vos

At one point, an Israel-Premier Tech rider looked like he might surprise the group, but the sprint train with Rickaert, Van der Poel, and Groves expertly launched their leader Philipsen. He powered past Biniam Girmay and Søren Waerenskjold with a mighty final sprint. The gap to the chasing group, including Evenepoel and Roglič, was more than half a minute at the finish. Behind them, multiple groups of dropped riders followed.