France's wine capital, Bordeaux, has over the years crowned the great sprinter of Tour de France history, with names including Van Looy, Darrigade, Maertens, Abdoujaparov, and Zabel all having written their name on the honour roll in the city.
The last time the Tour finished in its second-most visited city 13 years ago, Mark Cavendish came out on top with his 11th career stage victory. This Friday he was in the mix for a record-breaking 35th, though the new great sprinter of the Tour, Jasper Philipsen, had other ideas.
The 25-year-old Belgian came through to claim the fifth Tour stage of his career as he made it three from three at this year's Tour, consigning Cavendish to second place along the banks of the Garonne.
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In his post-race interview, Philipsen paid tribute to the man he beat into second place.
"I saw that he passed me, and I thought 'Oh my god he's not going to take his 35th stage victory, is he? It's incredible if he achieves it'," Philipsen said. "I was happy that I was still able to pass him because we don't give any presents for sure. It was a pleasure to fight against him for the victory. I think he's the greatest sprinter of all time."
"We see this morning a video from Mark of 2010 when he won here," Philipsen said. "It looks like ages ago and it's just crazy that we're still racing and fighting for a victory against him. It's amazing that he can compete on the highest level fighting for a 35th stage win in the Tour. It's impressive and hats off to him. I think nobody will do that again.
Philipsen's third win came via another stellar job in the lead-out by team leader Mathieu van der Poel, who dropped him off at just over 200 metres to go after a massive pull on the front beginning 900 metres out.
As Cavendish flew up the right-hand side of the road and into the wind, Philipsen looked across and moved towards the Manxman, squeezing Biniam Girmay towards the barriers as he took the wheel before zipping through inside the final 100 metres.
Although Cavendish's Astana team boss Alexander Vinokourov and third-placed Biniam Girmay's Intermarché-Circus-Wanty boss Jean-François Bourlart lodged protests with the commissaires, they were to no avail as Philipsen's win was quickly confirmed.
Four further nailed-on sprint stages lie between now and the end of the Tour, with Philipsen now heading the favourites list for more wins and the green jersey, a classification in which he enjoys an 88-point lead. Despite the success, though, he was modest when asked if he was the best sprinter at this year's race.
"That's really hard to say," he said in the post-race press conference. "I think we have the best lead-out train. I think that's for sure.
"How we work together and to have Mathieu van der Poel there as the last man is a big factor in the success. We have to keep working and looking forward to Paris, but it's still a long way."
He's also not thinking about how many wins he might eventually accumulate at the Tour. Philipsen still has years of sprinting ahead of him and this is only his third Tour start, too. Despite a promising future at this Tour and beyond, he wouldn't be drawn on where he might end up in the sprinters' Tour de France win rankings.
"It's still too far out. I think we just have to enjoy this. This Tour still has two weeks to go. We'll still go for other stage wins but we'll take it day by day.
"To think now about 12 or whatever or more, it's still a long way. It's not a secret that I just try to do the best and we have a great team to achieve great things. So far, it's going well."
