Jasper Philipsen sped to his third stage win of the 2023 Tour de France alongside the river Garonne in Bordeaux on Friday afternoon, though his stage 7 victory wasn't without controversy.
The Belgian and his Alpecin-Deceuninck team had a tense wait to see if Philipsen would be relegated after a sinuous finale on stage 3, and were in trouble three days ago on stage 4 in Nogaro as Danny van Poppel accused him of inadvertently causing Fabio Jakobsen's late crash on the motor racing circuit. His lead-out man Mathieu van der Poel was later demoted for barging Biniam Girmay out of the way, too.
In the final metres of Friday's stage 7 to Bordeaux, Philipsen moved across the road to jump onto Mark Cavendish's wheel as the Manxman, chasing a record-breaking 35th Tour stage victory, hit the front.
In doing so he appeared to squeeze Biniam Girmay toward the barriers, impeding his sprint, though his win was later confirmed by the UCI jury of commissaires despite Astana Qazaqstan and Intermarché-Circus-Wanty lodging protests.
Cavendish's Astana team boss Alexander Vinokourov lodged a complaint, though, alongside Intermarché boss Jean-François Bourlart. Speaking to Sporza after the stage, Vinokourov asked whether there has to be a crash for someone to be penalised for moving in the sprint.
"The footage clearly shows Philipsen changing direction, from left to right," Vinokourov said. "The rules state that you have to sprint straight ahead. He hinders three riders: Dylan Groenewegen, Jordi Meeus and Biniam Girmay.
"If Girmay doesn't brake, he ends up in the fences. Does someone have to fall to be declassified? He might have been able to win from Mark's wheel."
Speaking after the stage, Cavendish said that Philipsen "didn't impede me at all so it's not for me to discuss," though he acknowledged that teams might protest the move.
"I'd imagine there might be a couple of teams putting protests in against Philipsen today anyway," he said. "But he didn't impede me so there's nothing wrong with that. He just came from the left to the right."
Girmay told reporters at the post-stage doping control that "nothing happened", though his team boss Bourlart took a different tack, saying that dozens of riders could have fallen had his star not braked to avoid a collision with Philipsen or the barriers.
"Jasper wins for the third time but makes a mistake for the third time," Bourlart said to Sporza. "Biniam is stuck against the fences again and has to brake. If he doesn't, 50 riders will be on the ground.
"What I blame the UCI for is prevention – we are waiting again for someone to risk their life to punish a rider. I don't think that's normal.
"Jasper is in the middle of the road and turns right in no time. If that is not penalised. According to the commissaires, no mistake has been made."
A change in the 3km rule
The protest against Philipsen's move in the final dash to the line, and the subsequent dismissal of said protests – wasn't the only safety-related story on what was, for the most part, a dull day of racing through the Dordogne.
A tricky run into Bordeaux brought its own challenges, including sharp bends on the way to the Garonne river crossing inside the final 4km as well as a dip in the road and chicane shortly afterwards, plus a narrowing in the road 2km out.
Those difficulties all contributed to a change in the 3km rule, with the CPA rider's union announcing before the stage that GC times would instead be taking 600 metres earlier than usual
Speaking to Cyclingnews after the stage, Intermarché-Circus-Wanty rider Mike Teunissen said that it was good to see the decision made, noting that the rule would ideally be flexible depending on circumstances.
"I think it's a good example that we shouldn't fixate on the 3km rule," the Dutchman said. "Now we had the biggest narrowing just before and I think it's good to do it like this. It's already nervous and with 10 GC teams extra, it's only getting more nervous, so I think it's a good decision."
Race leader Jonas Vingegaard was another rider who approved of the change – he and his yellow jersey rivals could relax a little more in the final as the sprinters did their thing up ahead.
"Today was also very, very hectic in the end," he said in the post-stage press conference. "I think that all the GC riders were happy with the extended 3km rule today.
"Before those corners, they would say here is the 3km rule. I think today they made it a lot safer than it would've been otherwise."
