Jasper Philipsen celebrates winning stage 16(Image credit: Tim de Waele/Getty Images)
Jasper Philipsen of Alpecin-Deceuninck celebrates as he crosses the finish line to win stage 16(Image credit: Tom Goyvaerts / BELGA MAG / Belga via AFP / Getty Images)
Alpecin-Deceuninck's Jasper Philipsen hits the front of the sprint(Image credit: Anne-Christine POUJOULAT / AFP / Getty Images)
Jasper Philipsen well out front in the chaotic finish in Nîmes, second place going to Bahrain-Victorious's Phil Bauhaus (right) (Image credit: Anne-Christine POUJOULAT / AFP / Getty Images)
Mathieu van der Poel (left) celebrates with Alpecin-Deceuninck teammate and stage winner Jasper Philipsen after the finish(Image credit: Daniel Cole / Pool / Getty Images)
Sprints begin to take high interest with under 12km to ride (L to R) including Anthony Turgis of TotalEnergies, Arnaud Demare of Team Arkéa-BB Hotels, Ilan Van Wilder of Soudal-QuickStep(Image credit: Dario Belingheri/Getty Images)
Biniam Girmay of Intermarché-Wanty competes near the front of the peloton in the green sprint jersey(Image credit: Dario Belingheri/Getty Images)
The breakaway ended for Thomas Gachignard of TotalEnergies with 25km to go(Image credit: Dario Belingheri/Getty Images)
Tadej Pogacar on the Yellow Leader Jersey rides with UAE Team Emirates teammate Nils Politt in the peloton as they approach the final 30km(Image credit: Dario Belingheri/Getty Images)
World champion Mathieu van der Poel competes in the peloton(Image credit: Dario Belingheri/Getty Images)
With 50km to go, Thomas Gachignard of TotalEnergies had a 1:38 lead in a solo breakaway(Image credit: Dario Belingheri/Getty Images)
Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck) rides behind the Jayco-AlUla team as the peloton heads toward the climb at Les Matellettes(Image credit: Dario Belingheri/Getty Images)
Tadej Pogačar in the peloton on a hot day from Gruissan to Nîmes(Image credit: Getty Images)
Remco Evenepoel of Soudal-QuickStep rides in the White Best Young Rider Jersey in the peloton(Image credit: Dario Belingheri/Getty Images)
Jonas Vingegaard is again riding in the KOM polka-dot jersey(Image credit: Getty Images)
Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates)(Image credit: Getty Images)
The peloton passes through a shady avenue for the 188.6km stage 16(Image credit: Dario Belingheri/Getty Images)
The peloton begins the journey of 188.6km during stage 16(Image credit: Getty Images)
Fans find creative ways to watch stage 16 and show the colours of the host country(Image credit: Dario Belingheri/Getty Images)
Stage 16 winner Jasper Philipsen of Alpecin-Deceuninck heads to the awards stage(Image credit: Daniel Cole / Pool / Getty Images)
Jasper Philipsen of Alpecin-Deceuninck celebrates for a third time at this year's Tour as a stage winner(Image credit: Tim de Waele/Getty Images)
Intermarché-Wanty riders escort teammate Biniam Girmay, wearing the sprinter's green jersey, across the finish line after he had a late crash in a roundabout (Image credit: Marco BERTORELLO / AFP / Getty Images)
Biniam Girmay in the sprinter's green jersey is assisted by teammates as he crosses the finish line after his crashing in the final kilometers of the 16th stage(Image credit: Anne-Christine POUJOULAT / AFP / Getty Images)
Irishman Sam Bennett of Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale Team reacts to the heat after finishing fourth (Image credit: Dario Belingheri/Getty Images)
Mark Cavendish of Astana Qazaqstan reacts finishing 17th in Nîmes sprint(Image credit: Dario Belingheri/Getty Images)
Arnaud Démare of Arkéa-BB Hotels reaches for hydration after finishing 18th on stage 16(Image credit: Dario Belingheri/Getty Images)
Bryan Coquard of Cofidis cools down after 7th place finish(Image credit: Dario Belingheri/Getty Images)
Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Deceuninck) sprinted to his third stage win of the Tour de France, dominating the closing sprint of stage 16 in Nîmes as green jersey Biniam Girmay (Intermarché-Wanty) crashed in the final 2km.
The Belgian eased to his ninth career Tour stage win ahead of Phil Bauhaus (Bahrain Victorious) and Alexander Kristoff (Uno-X Mobility) to draw a close to one of the dullest days of this year’s race.
With Girmay falling before the finish and Philipsen gaining 50 points at the line, the battle for the green jersey now appears to be back on, despite the stage being the last of the flat finishes at the Tour. The Eritrean’s lead is now reduced to just 32 points.
Philipsen benefitted from another quality lead-out from his Alpecin-Deceuninck teammates as world champion Mathieu van der Poel dropped him off in a perfect position to start the sprint from the front.
The Dutchman took over from the Uno-X lead-out, launching Philipsen towards the line, where he took a clear win well ahead of his competitors.
“I’m really happy. Definitely after such a team effort – it’s always nice when you can win together and I think that’s what we did definitely today,” Philipsen said later.
“I was feeling good. I had a good rest day and I’ve felt that my shape has improved during this Tour de France so I was confident if we could line it up good today that we could go for the win.
“Every stage win is really hard to get at this level so to take three is a really good job and I think we can be proud.
“Everything is possible but it’s really hard,” he added, referring to the green jersey battle. “[Girmay] is climbing really well. I just hope he’s OK after the crash because he doesn’t deserve to lose like this. We’ll just try whatever we can, but hard stages are yet to come. We have to go day-by-day but we mostly enjoy this win.”
Unsurprisingly, there was no movement in the general classification as Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates) finished in the peloton, retaining his overall lead, 3:34 up on Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike).
How it unfolded
Stage 16 of the Tour de France would deliver the final opportunity for the sprinters of the Tour de France peloton to shine. The day would take the 150 riders remaining in the race on yet another blandly designed flat stage, this time stretching out a drawn-out 188.6km from Gruissan to Nîmes, curving around Montpellier on the way.
The largely featureless day brought just one categorised climb. The 1.2km, 5% Côte de Fambetou lay 76km from the finish, far too distant to have any real effect on the action, while an earlier uncategorised 7km climb to the Mas de Cornon led the riders into the day’s sole intermediate sprint at Les Matellettes.
With so little on offer for any potential breakaway, almost half the teams in the peloton interested in a bunch sprint finish, and local temperatures reaching into the mid-30s, there was – as we’ve seen several times before in this Tour – no incentive for anybody to venture up the road.
Two hours ticked by with literally nothing at all happening out on the road, the peloton averaging 41.5 kph as they hit the final 100km of the stage.
Things briefly burst into life once the race reached the sprint and the fastmen came to the fore, though sadly for viewers it was only the intermediate sprint with 93km still left to run. Bryan Coquard outpaced Jasper Philipsen to the line, with green jersey Biniam Girmay getting caught behind on the way to fourth place.
Thomas Gachinard (TotalEnergies) pushed on alone after the sprint while behind him the peloton settled back into the dull roll-along of the previous hours. The Frenchman rode two minutes up the road as the sprint squad Alpecin-Deceuninck and Jayco-AlUla controlled things back in the peloton.
The threat of crosswinds had been mooted ahead of, and even during, the stage. Any strong winds would have been more than welcome to add a touch of spice to proceedings, but none materialised, and so the sprint squads continued on, gradually clawing back Gachinard on the road to Nîmes.
He lasted until the 25km mark, by which point the sprinter’s teams had already upped the pace ahead of the finish. The likes of Astana Qazaqstan, Lotto-Dstny, and Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale all took to the front inside the final 10km, with Uno-X Mobility also joining the party later on.
Alpecin-Deceuninck moved up with 2km to go, the Belgian team following others during the final run-in and shielding Philipsen from the wind in the process on the way to the final sprint finish of the 2024 Tour.
Dani Ostanek is Senior News Writer at Cyclingnews, joining in 2017 as a freelance contributor and later being hired full-time. Before joining the team, they had written for numerous major publications in the cycling world, including CyclingWeekly and Rouleur.
Dani has reported from the world's top races, including the Tour de France, Road World Championships, and the spring Classics. They have interviewed many of the sport's biggest stars, including Mathieu van der Poel, Demi Vollering, and Remco Evenepoel. Their favourite races are the Giro d'Italia, Strade Bianche and Paris-Roubaix.
