Another Van der Poel masterclass puts Philipsen into Tour de France green jersey

The Circuit Paul Armagnac in Nogaro, south-western France has played host to many feats of speed over the years, from touring cars and truck racing to four-time para-cycling Olympic champion Alessandro Zanardi's track record in a F3000 car 32 years ago.

Its latest came as the high-speed mini-train of Mathieu van der Poel and Jasper Philipsen blasted to another victory at this year's Tour de France, the Belgian sprinter taking his second win in as many days on stage 4 and with it the green jersey.

Van der Poel hit the front of the race just 330m from the end of the largely quiet 181.8km stage, depositing his man at 150m to go amid a crash-hit finale on the winding tarmac of the circuit.

Along the way, several riders hit the ground, with the most notable incident coming at 1.8km to go when Fabio Jakobsen was a faller. The European champion went down on a sweeping left-hander on the circuit having been caught between Philipsen and an Israel Premier Tech rider.

Shortly after the finish, Bora-Hansgrohe fastman Danny van Poppel threw an accusation in Philipsen's direction, telling NOS: "Sometimes you see someone doing something really stupid, and sometimes they do it on purpose. It is no different with Jasper. He doesn't know what he's doing. But I'm not saying that he did is on purpose – it's part of sprinting."

In the post-race press conference following the podium ceremony which saw him don the green jersey as the new leader of the points classification, Philipsen refuted any suggestion that he had caused Jakobsen's crash, which also saw Lotto-Dstny's Jacopo Guarnieri go down.

"I think I followed my team and of course, I felt that Fabio was there, but in my eyes, he went in a gap where there was no room," Philipsen said.

"For sure, there was also somebody on the right side, so I don't know what happened exactly because it happened so fast. I don't want to crash anybody, let's make that clear. I want to have a fair sprint and it's not my intention to crash anybody."

For his part, Philipsen's teammate Van der Poel admitted that the circuit was dangerous, perhaps too much so, given all the bends in the final kilometres.

"It was very dangerous," Van der Poel said after the finish. "In my eyes, it was even more so than yesterday, despite the fact that we were on a circuit. If you put so many bends in a normal road like yesterday, you'll get comments. But apparently, it's allowed on a circuit."

The finish, which also saw Matej Mohorič (Bahrain Victorious), Luis León Sánchez (Astana Qazaqstan), and Søren Wærenskjold (Uno-X) crash, wasn't all about spills and recriminations, though.

The hectic run to the line culminated in another masterclass by Alpecin-Deceuninck, even if their burst to the front was accompanied by a little argy-bargy as Van der Poel muscled Biniam Girmay aside to create space to race into.

Indeed, Van der Poel was later fined 500 CHF and relegated from 16th to 22nd for his bumping of Girmay, losing 13 points in the green jersey standings in the process.

"It wasn't a super smooth lead out like yesterday," Philipsen said later. "We lost each other because it was so hectic, more than I expected. In the final straight, I still found Mathieu's wheel. I didn't know he had this still in the tank and he delivered me at 150 metres to go. I didn't have a lot in the legs, so I was happy it was a short sprint. Caleb came very close.

"It won't happen often probably. I'm just really happy and proud to have such a strong team and leadout. Even in a fucked-up situation like today we managed to arrive in the front and be able to sprint for the victory.

"That's only possible when you have a strong team like that behind you. It's a privilege for me to have Mathieu as the last man. I think not many other guys on the teams can say that."

With two wins in two days and the likes of Ewan and Phil Bauhaus switching positions behind him, Philipsen now brings a mammoth 150 green jersey points into the Pyrenees. He's 70 points up on second-placed man, previous jersey holder Victor Lafay, while Ewan lies in third with 73 points.

There are plenty of sprint days left in this year's Tour and so numerous opportunities to close the gap to Philipsen – a sprint win is worth 50 points, after all – but the 25-year-old enjoys a solid head start ahead of the next sprint chances on stages 7 and 8 in Bordeaux and Limoges.

"We need to see what's possible," Philipsen said. "Today was a good day for the green jersey classification but it's stage 4 and there are many stages to come. It'll be a goal and we'll see what's possible in the next days. The 'real' Tour de France still has to start. We have a good advantage now and we'll try to defend it as much as possible.

"It's a goal for sure to go for the third victory but I think we have to enjoy this. Now there are two other stages we also have to survive – it's the Pyrenees already very early. We'll see in three days how my legs feel after the Tourmalet and other climbs. There are more sprints to come and hopefully the same outcome."