Philipsen: "We can't go any faster than this."

The thirteenth stage of the Tour de France left some controversy and nerves frayed; after all, the riders averaged 50 km/h, a crazy speed for the stage in question.

Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Premier Tech) tried to put pressure on Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek) in the fight for the green jersey, but the Dane, who initially failed to get into the day's breakaway, then managed to get back and contest the intermediate sprint.  

Philipsen , after the stage, explained that joining the breakaway hadn't been a pre-planned move, but quickly became an opportunity: "It wasn't planned, but we saw an opportunity," Philipsen told Sporza. "Girmay and Pedersen had missed the opportunity, but in the end they managed to salvage the situation."

Even though the Pedersen group was quite large (about twenty riders), Philipsen doesn't understand how he was able to catch up so quickly with the leading group (which was much larger):  

“At that point we were doing 53 km/h. We couldn't do anything else. After all, we can't go any faster than that. How fast were they going behind us? 60 km/h?

The Belgian from Alpecin is 41 points behind Pedersen in the green jersey standings, but he is not giving up:  

“The gap is still significant, so it will be a tough task. We'll keep fighting with everything we've got until Paris. It's nice to still have a goal,” Philipsen said. “I'm happy with how I feel now.”

Pedersen's pursuit of Philipsen (which also involved Girmay, who finished third in today's intermediate sprint) challenged the Dane's teammates, including Skjelmose , one of Lidl Trek's two overall leaders: "It was a lousy day," Skjelmose told TV2 Sport after the stage. "We were behind all day. The situation wasn't great with Philipsen in the breakaway and Mads unable to follow. We had to burn through almost the entire team to close the gap."

The Dane admitted he was surprised to have to help lead the chase:

“I wasn't entirely ready, because I didn't think it was my job to be there [at the front of the group]. So I was also surprised that we weren't there [in the breakaway].”  

Photo: Sprint Cycling Agency