In a whirlwind of events, Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Premier Tech) has been reinstated to third after initially being relegated in the sprint on stage 11 of the Tour de France.
Philipsen finished third in the sprint behind winner Søren Wærenskjold (Uno-X Mobility) and was then relegated in the revised results, but the results were revised once again, and the Belgian was put back in third place.
"Of course, it was an over-disappointment as I didn't know what happened in the sprint. It was a hectic sprint, as it always is in the Tour de France. But it was one moment when I had a conflict with a rider from Picnic, and of course it was because the speed dropped a lot in the final 400 metres. The speed from the riders behind, they came with a lot more speed from the back," Philipsen said.
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"Of course, I don't have eyes in my back, and I don't see what is behind me. I think it was disappointing that they relegated me, but in the end, it will also mean that I didn't do anything on purpose or anything wrong if they have reversed the decision, so I am happy that they reconsidered the decision."
The initial news of the relegation did not come with an official reasoning, usually only included in the day's jury report, but the suspected issue was irregular sprinting. Philipsen physically collided with two rivals during the sprint before finishing third.
When Cyclingnews arrived at the Alpecin-Premier Tech bus post-stage, the team themselves did not yet know the reason either, but understood Philipsen had been relegated and given a yellow card.
"Actually not, and that's why I said we better go out of the bus and tell everybody we also don't know," Philip Roodhooft told the media before the reinstatement.
"Christoph and Fredrik [Alpecin DSs] went back to the car to see which phase of the sprint they're actually talking about. Probably it's something we haven't seen, because we see only one move where he touches, or rather a rider from Picnic PostNL touches Jasper. So we didn't really see it, but it could be that moment of the sprint."
However, shortly after, Philipsen was seemingly reinstated. This can come after teams appeal the decision or if the commissaires review video footage and change their judgement. Wielerflits report that Christoph Roodhooft went to speak to the jury after the stage, and the discussion resulted in the decision being overturned.
"It is better the way it is," Christoph Roodhooft told Wielerflits. "I think it is only fair. It was a good meeting. We reviewed everything together, and they had a lot more footage than what we had seen. And ultimately, they consulted again, and the decision was reversed.
"It is not easy for anyone here, and everything has to happen quickly. I think it is good how things turned out," he continued, although he remained vague on exactly what move from Philipsen had sparked the cancelled relegation in the first place.
"It is difficult to explain, because there are no images of it. I could make a story out of it, but I believe there were two manoeuvres. I can’t say more about it."
Had he not been reinstated, this would have been the second time in three years that Philipsen had been relegated from a Tour de France stage, previously being punished on stage 6 of the 2024 race after coming second.
On Wednesday, Roodhooft was asked by retired sprinter Caleb Ewan if he felt that there was particular scrutiny on Philipsen. The Alpecin manager did not seem to think so, but conceded that the rider himself may feel frustrated with another relegation.
"Let's hope not. If that would be the case, then it would be a complicated situation for everybody. Every phase needs to be judged in an objective way, and we do believe the jury does it like that," he said.
"Again, we don't know exactly which phase we are talking about now, so it's difficult, but I think consistency is the key to every rule. If it's not applied for everybody in the same way, then it creates trouble, but I don't think anybody has a special eye on Jasper; I think it's too far to think that. But on the other hand, from his position, now being disqualified and getting a yellow card, I think everybody understands that from his position, he feels like someone has an eye on him. I think that's normal."
A positive day after relegation scare
Before he was relegated, and then reinstated, third was the best sprint result for Philipsen so far in this race, as the 10-time Tour stage winner has struggled to get up there with the very best in the bunch finishes so far. Roodhooft was upbeat about Philipsen's effort into Nevers.
"I think the sprint went quite well," he said. "Of course there was the move of Wærenskjold that surprised everybody – first the move of Bol, and then the very quick reaction from Wærenskjold. It was very, very smart. Then the sprint went as it went, but I think today he could do a really good, solid sprint, a very nice effort, and that's what we take away from today."
Earlier in the day, Alpecin-Premier Tech had even tried to infiltrate the day's break with stage winner Mathieu van der Poel going on the attack, which wasn't successful, but Roodhooft explained the reasoning for trying something different.
"Nobody says it has to be a sprint stage. We tried to be in the break but didn't work out, and eventually it was the sprint everybody was expecting, also us, but you don't always have to assume things will go the way people say they will go, and that's the reason for it."
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