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"There are decades where nothing happens; and there are weeks where decades happen," is a quote often misattributed to Lenin, but it seems fitting on stage 17 of the 2026 Tour de France, on a day where decades appeared to happen.
A stage teed up as one for the breakaway, which saw yellow jersey Tadej Pogačar briefly up the road; a crash for Tom Pidcock; Mads Pedersen leading the charge to the intermediate sprint and Voiron; a solo attack from Jasper Stuyven; and then, finally, a reduced bunch sprint win for Jasper Philipsen, led out expertly by his Alpecin-Premier Tech teammate Mathieu van der Poel.
You could almost taste the relief in the air as Philipsen punched the air; the Belgian probably sighed, knowing that he had finally won his 11th Tour stage, and kept up his record of winning at least one stage every year since 2022. It had been a long time coming.
He was fifth in Pau on stage five, fifth in Bordeaux on stage seven, fourth in Bergerac on stage eight, and then third twice on stage 11 and 12 in Nevers and Chalon-sur-Saône respectively. There was a sense that maybe the win wasn't coming this season, and a lot of column inches about the disappointments. However, on Wednesday, there it was, the confirmation that the 28-year-old still has it.
All this after one of the hardest fought stages of the Tour, with the front of the race all together with just 3.7km to go. "I think everybody was dead," Philipsen said post-stage. "Of course, it's completely different to a normal sprint stage, everyone was on their limit. It's already stage 17, so the fatigue was there."
It was a triumph of tactics and physical effort, but also mental will, to keep believing, to keep trying.
"It was mainly [about] staying in front and being in a position where he would be able to sprint for victory," Alpecin-Premier Tech team boss Philip Roodhooft said at the team's bus, swarmed by journalists but for good news this time, not for bad. "We've seen at some moments that it was lost, and it's all credit to him and all of the team for continuing to believe in it. Continuing to push, and then at a certain point the pieces of the puzzle did fall into place for us.
"Not to win, but to be able to sprint for the win, and then if you see how Mathieu positioned Jasper, not only the leadout but into the last corner, I think it's a great victory for Jasper, but there's so much more behind it with the whole team."
All of that applied on Wednesday, but continuing to believe in Philipsen when everything seemed lost could also be ascribed to their whole race.
The belief needed to come from Philipsen himself too, who was under a lot of pressure to deliver.
"The team is not saying that I have to win, but it's obvious that I should win, because we did the preparation, we have a full leadout squad, we're here for stage wins not for GC," he explained. "There are always expectations, and when I don't deliver they're not going to shoot me or anything, but you just try to deliver. For the team, for the sponsors, for the staff, for everybody.
"If I can't deliver, that builds a lot of pressure on myself. It's something hard to deal with sometimes, but it's just part of the sport."
The pressure is fairly constant for Philipsen, at a team that's partly built around his finishing speed, from a cycling-mad country in Belgium, at a Belgian squad.
"I try to not look at articles, just to do something other than cycling, than the Tour de France," he replied when asked how he distracts himself. "It's easy to get your mind on the Tour all the time. You can watch a lot of programmes, read a lot of articles. but I just try to think about something else. That's the way I do it."
"It's a relief, not only for myself but for the team," Philipsen continued. "We already had our stage win with Mathieu of course, that was something very nice for everybody. To take the second one, after a lot happened on stage 17, I think it's just very nice, good for the atmosphere, good for everyone that kept on believing. Something nice to celebrate tonight."
"I think it's only human, there was a lot of disappointment," Roodhooft added. "That adds up of course, the first time not winning is ok, but then the second one, the third one, and lack of confidence comes into play. He knew that there weren't many opportunities still to come, and today wasn't a certain bunch sprint. There's so little space for making mistakes, and it makes the satisfaction bigger. It's more than relief, it's satisfaction."
On the day when decades happened, Philipsen delivered. Roodhooft might argue it's satisfaction, but it sure seemed like relief, deliverance.
"It's a relief, not only for myself but for the team," Philipsen said. "We already had our stage win with Mathieu of course, that was something very nice for everybody. To take the second one, after a lot happened on stage 17, I think it's just very nice, good for the atmosphere, good for everyone that kept on believing. Something nice to celebrate tonight."
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