Belgian cycling star Jasper Philipsen finally snapped a frustrating run of near-misses to claim a dominant sprint victory at the 17th Alpine stage of the 2025 Tour de France on Wednesday, marking his 11th career stage win at cycling’s most prestigious grand tour. The 28-year-old, who claimed the sprinters’ green jersey at the 2023 edition of the race, entered the 174.7-kilometer route from Chambery to Voiron under intense self-imposed pressure, having notched five top-five finishes across earlier sprint stages in this year’s competition but failed to seal a win.
Philipsen opened up about the mental weight of his dry spell before Wednesday’s race, describing the opening weeks of this year’s Tour as “horrible.” “I couldn’t find myself, I couldn’t find the form I was hoping for,” he told reporters after the finish. While his Alpecin-Deceuninck team never publicly demanded a victory, Philipsen acknowledged that expectations ran high for the squad’s dedicated lead-out train, which is built specifically to deliver stage wins rather than compete for the overall general classification. “When I don’t deliver, of course they’re not gonna shoot me or anything but… that builds a lot of pressure on me. It’s just something hard to deal with sometimes,” he added.
A key factor in his eventual win was the world-class lead-out from team-mate Mathieu van der Poel, who corrected timing missteps that had plagued the pair in earlier sprint finishes this year. In previous near misses, Van der Poel had launched Philipsen’s sprint just a fraction too early, allowing rival Tim Merlier to overtake the Belgian before the line. But Merlier was forced to abandon the Tour days earlier after struggling to keep pace on a punishing mountain stage, clearing a major path for Philipsen to victory. When the reduced main bunch caught the last breakaway rider with less than 4 kilometers remaining, Van der Poel—himself a former world champion and one of the most decorated one-day classics riders in modern cycling—held the front of the group to block late attacks, then still had the power to launch Philipsen to the line. The 28-year-old surged several bike lengths clear of second-place Mauro Schmid and third-place Olav Kooij, both of whom had already claimed stage wins in this year’s race.
Wednesday’s win extends Philipsen’s incredible Tour de France streak: he has now won at least one stage in each of the last five editions of the race. He also noted that getting a lead-out from a rider of Van der Poel’s caliber comes with extra motivation to deliver. “When Mathieu van der Poel does a lead-out for you, you want to deliver, you want to win because… not many guys have the privilege to have a lead out guy like him,” Philipsen said.
Beyond the stage win, the 50 points Philipsen earned have overhauled his position in the green jersey classification, pulling him to within just seven points of current leader Mads Pedersen, another former world champion. Pedersen, who joined the early 174-kilometer breakaway to chase intermediate sprint points, won the intermediate sprint but was eventually reeled in by the chasing sprint group alongside the other breakaway riders.
For overall race leader and defending champion Tadej Pogacar, the stage passed without major disruption to his general classification lead, as he finished safely in the main peloton just under nine minutes behind Philipsen. However, the Slovenian’s title defense faces a minor setback: key mountain lieutenant Adam Yates of UAE Emirates-XRG suffered a severe stomach bug overnight and struggled through the entire stage, finishing more than 26 minutes behind the winner, putting his continued participation in the race in question.
The 17th stage was defined by chaotic, aggressive racing from start to finish. It took more than 100 kilometers for a breakaway group to stick, after repeated attacks from riders looking to escape the peloton. Eventually, a six-man break including Pedersen formed and opened up a sizeable gap on the main field. After Pedersen claimed maximum intermediate sprint points 27 kilometers from the finish, fellow breakaway rider Jasper Stuyven launched a solo attack and held his lead all the way until the final 4 kilometers, when he was finally caught by the chasing sprint group led by Alpecin-Deceuninck.