Stage 19 of the Tour de France was one of the last two chances for the sprinters to shine in a 2022 edition bereft of flat stages. That's why Jasper Philipsen was kicking himself for losing the wheel of his Alpecin-Deceuninck teammate and missing out on a chance for victory behind solo attacker Christophe Laporte (Jumbo-Visma).
"I think we had a good chance but I made a mistake in a corner where I lost the wheel of my teammate, and that cost me the victory," Philipsen said. "[Laporte] took off into the chaos and it was a nice win for him."
The 188.3 kilometre stage to Cahors was considered to be flat, but two category 4 climbs, an undulating run-in and a short uphill finish proved to be too demanding for his team, who spent much of the day chasing after various breakaways.
"I think it was a hard race, also tactics in the end - we had to push full gas the whole time to catch them. There aren't many helpers left and it was a bit disorganised," Philipsen said.
The team had plenty of help to control a five-rider early escape but a more dangerous counter-move in the closing 30 kilometres held on deep into the dying metres of the stage. It wasn't until green jersey holder Wout van Aert came forward to chase that the three leaders came into view.
In the final sprint, Philipsen led the bunch to the line ahead of Alberto Dainese (DSM), but Laporte had already flown away to take the victory - Jumbo-Visma's fifth stage win of the Tour.
"We're down to six riders so then you always have to look how to put in the right efforts at the right moments," Philipsen said of his depleted team, missing powerhouse Mathieu van der Poel and Michael Gogl who dropped out in the first two weeks. "The race goes how it goes and today it was not to our advantage."
